Bengaluru artiste brings crocodile on road to grab attention of civic authorities

Mangalore Today Network

Bengaluru: June 18, 2015: Frustrated by the failure of civic authorities in Bengaluru to repair a giant pot hole and a broken water pipe located in the middle of a main street, an artiste in the city turned the pot hole into an artificial crocodile pond on Thursday. In an expression of his frustration over the lackadaiscal approach of civic authorities in Bangalore, a 36-year-old visual artist Baadal Nanjundaswamy  planted a life sized crocodile in a 12-feet-long pot hole on the Sulthanpalya Main Road in north Bengaluru  on Thursday.

 

The crocodile pond did not exactly attract the attention of authorities but it aroused the curiosity of hundreds of people passing by.

“A drinking water pipe broke about a month ago. The subsequent rain and constant traffic has eroded the road creating a big pot hole. Authorities have showed no response to rectifying it. Locals have complained to the BBMP and the BWSSB to no avail. I am hoping they will take some action now,” Nanjundaswamy said. The artist created his fiber crocodile over a week’s time at a personal cost of Rs 6000. The life-size crocodile measures nine feet in length and weighs 18 to 20 kg. Some local residents were fooled by the life sized crocodile and Mahesh Kaveri, a local resident said he was about to scream for help on spotting the fake reptile. A former visualiser with a leading advertising agency, this is not the first time that Nanjundaswamy has used his art for civic activism. Last year, the artist turned an open manhole in the city into the mouth of ‘Yamaraj’ – to signify that the open man hole was a death trap. “Last time it attracted the attention of BBMP officials and the man hole was closed within a day. Everyone has the potential to express themselves in his or her own way. This is my way of communicating a grievance,” he said. Nanjundaswamy has tagged both the BBMP and the Bengaluru traffic police to pictures of the “crocodile pond” on the Sulthanpalya Main Road on social media.