This sunday I was standing on the street to enquire about Kumara Krupa Road from a traffic cop. He was busy on his walky talky and simply pointed towards the direction. As I turned, what I saw was a large crowd covering the entire road from both the sides. This was Kumbh Mela for art lovers like me.

As I entered the road, I could only see paintings and art works full of vibrant colors. Where should I begin with?



Hosted by Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Chitra Santhe is the gathering of art lovers. More than 1200 stalls are on display in a rare event on the last Sunday of January every year. Different types of art works including acrylic, oil, water colors and different forms of art like canvas, landscapes, abstract, portraits, knife etched and even visual effect using dried coffee beans. This was heaven, a dream come true. All I could see was a colorful world around me and was overwhelmed by the art fair.

During the fair, I met a great artist Mr. Suresh Pethe, about whom I had heard a lot from my art teacher, Durba. Mr. Pethe was an artist from Pune, known as the oxford in the east and also my hometown. Me and my husband were thrilled to see our beloved Pune immortalized in his paintings and started playing the guessing game about the locations drawn by him.

I was also influenced by artist Mr. Pankaj Moghe who specialized in 3D paintings using stones and rocks that are available on the street. He had created natural landscapes and used the stones as texture for rock mountains. He said, 'We are not the creator of the texture and hence I use real stones to create this texture.'

There were self learned artist like me gathered who displayed extraordinary work. As per one of them, 'It was inspiration, passion and the right attitude that drove them to this platform.' Their passion inspired me to pursue my dream even further.

There were artist from different parts of India. Artist had come all the way from Kolkatta, Pune, Delhi, Mumbai. One artist was not able to speak hindi or english but was trying to showcase his artwork of krishna using electronic circuit board on a white washed canvas. He explained that this was unification of art and science. He chose white to depict the purity of mind and peace.

There were art supplies for sale at discounted rates. After almost six hours of walking, we both got tired and decided to turn around. We could not manage to see all the stalls at the art fair. In the end I found a fellow pencil Jammer Dinesh who had his own stall at the other end of the fair.

3d camel made out of metal gear was on display

There was a small hiccup in the entire organization. I was told that Chitra Santhe is happening for many years, I believe it could be better organized. Maybe the sheer number of artists and the visitors was difficult to manage but there was a lot of room for improvement. One day is not enough to visit all the stalls and navigate through the entire area.

Finally, it is a great art fair and the memories will be cherished with me forever. It is a great platform for new artists and exhibitors to connect to art lovers. There is no limit to the creative talent and imagination of an artist. A gathering like this is bound to increase the creativity of every artist that walks into the flea market of art tenfold. And who knows, maybe next year, you will find me at the gathering if all the stars align.

Until next time.