If you’ve been to CP, you might remember the subway on Baba Kharak Singh Marg that was once a sad sight. A place for drug peddlers to earn a living, it wasn’t just unsafe but a ugly underbelly that no one wanted to talk about. Years passed and unsure pedestrians decided to leave things up to someone else.
Meenakshi and Vinay Rai weren’t the regular, nose crinkling couple though. Instead of moping about the sad state of affairs, they decided to go get out of their drawing room and reclaim the space for art and culture.
“We aren’t in it for the money. We wanted to do it for the love of it. So we tied up with eight tribal communities and gathered everything they were making at one place. It, of course, becomes extra income for the craftsmen and we’ve been lucky to get patrons… Not just a one-time customer,” Meenakshi tells us.
It’s a great feeling to see her lounge around as the radio plays out old classics from the 80s. She tells us that the initiative has been fortunate to have the support of the NDMC and HHEC. They got school children to paint the walls and make takeaway bags and kept adding to the collection of finds. No wonder then, that it proudly wears that freewheeling vibe of an unorganised bazaar. Truth be told, we wouldn’t have it any other way either.
