Sanjay K Nair, a professor at the Banaras Hindu University, turned a drab 700-foot wall of Cherpulassery High School in Palakkad district in Kerala into a piece of art. Nair uses cement art to carve the word ‘peace’ in 250 languages. The ‘peace wall’ took 12 days to carve and also features 26 pictures that depict the local history and culture.
Nair uses the wall to diffuse tensions between India and Pakistan post the Pulwama terror attack. Though it comes just days after Indo-Pak tensions, the wall of art took years to conceive. Nair told TNM,
“The idea had formed in my head when I was very young, when as a student I read a book from the school library on Cherupulassery’s role in the freedom struggle of the country. What struck me most was a book called Kilafath Smaranakal written by freedom fighter Mozhikunnam Brahmadathan Namboodiripad. It describes how the British misunderstood him and tied him to a horse and dragged him to prison. It created some disturbing visuals in my mind even back then. It is his story that we have carved on one part of the wall.”
Nair had put up a similar ‘peace art’ at the Wagah border in 2014.
