Paint Panaji red, yellow, blue and more ..Say - Raj Bhandare

Panaji: When children, aged 8 to 16, will come together for The Times of India's Goa For Kids road painting event on May 15 at the Panaji church square, the kids will not just awaken their creativity for a few hours but they will be inspired to overcome limitations for a lifetime.

Artist: Raj Bhandare- Studio- Goa

That is artist Raj Bhandare's promise to the participating children. Last year for Goa for Kids, Bhandare got the children to create a masterpiece on a massive canvas, where all the children painted at a time. But this year, the canvas has only got larger and the children will pour out their creativity on the road below the Panaji church. 

"I was thinking about how to make the canvas larger than last year's. Children usually paint on a piece of paper and even if we paint on a large hoarding, it still has limitations of a certain space. Every time you are working within a limit. Then I thought of making the Panaji church square our canvas," Bhandare said. 

He said that painting on a road with no visible boundaries will alter the child's perception of the world around him or her forever. 

"A tender age is the right time to put such a seed and wait for it to germinate...It will inspire the children to break the shackles of influence of parents, media, friends and of different kind," the artist said. 

Raj Bhandare Interview with Reporter 

Bhandare strongly believes that such an exercise will help explore the true potential of a child. "I believe every individual has a seed of greatness in them. They should be inspired to say 'I am the one who is blessed, who will risk it, and I will grow'," Bhandare said. He said that the road painting is not just an ordinary painting exercise involving children, but it will be an instrument in carrying out a mind shift. 

The event in Panaji is open to children from the entire length and breadth of Goa. 

"I would ask the participating children to be prepared to have fun. And to the parents I would like to ask them to allow their children to fly and play big. Let this be the motto of the evening," Bhandare said. 

Recent work by Raj Bhandare

The event in Panaji will take place from 9pm to 12 midnight on May 15, where the traffic will be blocked from the stretch to allow children to be at their creative best. 

Bhandare believes that children need to be exposed to an entire range of creative pursuits at a young age to help them discover their path. 

Kids for art- Goa for Kids

"One needs to understand that creativity leads to spiritual burst," said the artist. 

Participation in the event requires pre-registration. To book your spot to enter artist Raj Bhandare's creative world, call 9049644477 or 3045066 from 10am to 5pm. You can also send in your registration to goaforkidsclub@gmail.com. There are limited seats available. 

TNN | May 13, 2015, 02.00 AM IST ( Times of Inida- Goa)