Artist on mission Green

BY V L SRINIVASAN

Published on July 3, 2007

The artist’s visualisation of the Charminar, the Golconda fort and the Hussainsagar in a clean and green environment.

HYDERABAD: He is an artist with a mission and conservation of nature is his passion. Meet 37-year-old Vijay Ram, a native of Machilipatnam in Krishna district, who has been campaigning for a greener environment through his paintings for more than two decades now.

A cursory glance at Vijay Ram’s ‘Emerald Mithai Shop’ opposite Pingali Venkatram Reddy Hall on Indira Park road impresses none as even the signboard is covered by plants.

But a peep inside will definitely gladden the hearts of nature lovers. An oil painting of a youth prostrating before Mother Earth, a pollution-free Hyderabad with the Buddha statue standing in the clean waters of the Hussainsagar and the historic Golconda Fort covered by greenery are among the dozen works put up on the walls.

Interestingly, Vijay Ram uses green colour predominantly in most of his works. While all artists mention their names on the paintings, Vijay Ram intends to use the space to spread his message by writing his brush name ‘Protect Trees’ on all his works.

Vijay Ram took to painting inspired by his drawing teacher, Seshagiri. Later, he honed the skills on his own. So far he did around 100 works on environment and 500 more on other themes.

Though he stopped using plastic carry bags more than a decade ago, he decided to take it up as a movement after he read a news item that a veterinary doctor, Ramachandraiah removed 40 kg of polythene bags from the stomach of a cow in Machilipatnam a year ago.

‘‘A majority of housewives dispose of waste food in plastic carry bags. Stray cows eat them and many die due to the toxic effects of the plastic,’’ Vijay Ram says.

He plans to get at least 100 sick cows operated upon. He has already got two operated. ‘‘Saving the life of one cow is equal to donating one crore cows,’’ he points out.

When former MCH Commissioner Sanjay Jaju launched a campaign to discourage plastic carry bags and started distributing cloth bags as an alternative, Vijay Ram gave away 10,000 bags printed with the message ‘Kindly Avoid The Use of Polythene Carry Bags.’

He wants to distribute one lakh more such bags in future. The artist is even prepared to offer one painting free of cost to house owners who construct water harvesting structures on their premises.

At present, he has joined hands with the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board to promote water harvesting structures in 25 government schools in the twin cities. While he has contributed Rs 25,000, the Board has provided Rs 75,000 for the project.

Vijay Ram started a voluntary organisation called SAVE (Society for Awareness and Vision on Environment) last year. He conducted painting classes and spent the fee he earned on his mission.