what do you call one thousand artists on one road

One of those rare occasions where a road in Bengaluru was closed for non-Metro related work and most people were on streets to celebrate it. Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath celebrated 50 years of existence and presented the ChitraSanthe, for the 13^th time on Jan 3. Starting with just the school environs and the immediate road outside, this fair has grown to cover the entire stretch of Kumara Krupa road this year. 2016 saw over 400000 visitors grace the 1000+ artists who came to the event. According to the ChitraSanthe page on Facebook, the artists sold over Rupees two crore.

One of the common themes was the elephant (both Asian and the African versions). Another popular theme was childhood in the villages. Some artists were very vocal about the story  behind their artwork. One of the memorable paintings was that of Sage Vishwamitra surrendering to the charms of Menaka. Also got glimpses of rockstars’ portraits such Robert Plant, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain amongst many others. People were buying art while family members were standing in line at the ATMs. It was also the perfect time to get your caricature or portrait done by artists from all over Karnataka. Kudos to the school volunteers who tirelessly managed crowds, street cart vendors and constantly reminded everyone about Swacch Bharat.  
Personally it was a great way to start a new year with the kids staying outdoors for almost six hours, on a very pleasant Sunday not bothered about their electronics.