CHENNAI: Srirama Santhosh doodles when he’s happy or when he’s sad or when he smells freshly baked bread. This time, he doodles for Chennai. As part of the Madras Week celebrations, Santhosh’s doodle is sprawled across the breadth of the open double decker bus sponsored by The New Indian Express and NAC jewellers.
Those waiting to hitch a ride on the bus while away their time looking for their favourite landmark in the black and white creative art.
The doodle is inspired by the sun. Around the sun’s face are 20 landmarks in the city, from the Mylapore temple and the Santhome church, drawn to look like the rays of the sun.
“I drew it based on the sun because I wanted it to spread positive energy. It also portrays the unity in Chennai that came to the fore during the floods,” said Santhosh.
Santhosh’s original doodle even had a dhrishti pottu on the sun ‘to keep off the evil eyes from the city’. The doodle is also plastered across the little tables on the bus, redesigned to carry trivia on the city. Santhosh is the artist and founder of Doodle Monk which is the art partner for the Madras Week bus trips.
‘Doodle’ because this art can be any aimless drawing and ‘monk’ because they spread happiness and good thoughts.
According to Santhosh, it’s impossible for doodles to spread negative energy. “Even when you draw a gun or a monster, it cannot be intimidating when it’s a doodle,” he said.