Stories of Tihar

“Subah likhti hun, Shaam likhti hun, 
Is Chardiwari mein baithi, bas tera naam likhti hun 
In faaslon mein jo gam ki judai hai, Usi ko har baar likhti hun 
Ye mere shabd nahin, dil ki aawaz hain, 
Khwaish zinda hai, Sochti hun subah kabhi to hogi hi, Har aas mein jeeti hun 
Haan, Subah likhti hun, Shaam likhti hun, 
Is Chardiwari mein baithi, bas tera naam likhti hun”

A place which has a long history of violence and torture, where the colours are lost in the dark cramp holes. A place which holds within several untold stories of miseries. The stories which have finally found a place to be displayed, a voice to be heard.  “Chardiwari” (“Four Walls”), has been composed by Seema Raghuvanshi, an inmate of the jail. Graffiti. which adorned the outside walls of Tihar, is the artwork accomplished by the artists from the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh and students of Delhi College of Arts.

This is a caricature of a man drowning in a pit of black ink emanating from a pen, perhaps expounding on media trial of the accused and the assumption that a person is guilty before being proved so.

This one among others is a tempting collection of three panels painted side-by-side and interspersed by wide white margins depicting three dark angels confined in a space that is too congested for them.

Here the trunk of a tree growing through the prison wall to depict a cruel, rough face that, in a commentary on the judicial system and law enforcement agencies, holds in its hands a cage and a bird respectively.

Others…………