Footprint in the heart

* Shivam, a Std XII student from Trilokpuri in East Delhi, ued a red ball-point pen to draw the image of a bleeding foot with four silhouetted figures walking on it

* The image was widely circulated on social media and also used for posters

Earlier this week, a friend sent me a tweet she had circulated. Before I could read the string of words, the image on top gripped me. It showed a footprint aligned horizontally on a sheet of paper. Fully red, the footprint had blood-like paint dripping glutinously from one side of the foot. On its upper edge — where the contour bulges at the instep, curves in at the arch and then swells out at the heel — were four tiny silhouetted figures. They appeared to be walking at a distance — a family carrying their entire household on their heads.

The image took my breath away. This was not a mere illustration and, yet, not quite a painting. Perhaps, a coloured drawing would describe it best. It was evocative of the agony that has overtaken the lives of millions, not just those who are on the move, but also many who remain in the city, their lives teetering between shelter and homelessness, dependent on the mercy of landlords.

The work, I learnt, was created by 18-year-old Shivam, who is a Std XII student of the Government Boys Senior Secondary School, Sector 27, Trilokpuri, East Delhi. Layered in this image, painted about eight days ago, are many stories of pain, sublimation, empathy and hope. Not surprisingly, the drawing has taken social media by storm.

I ask Shivam how he came to paint this work. He answers in a mix of Hindi and some English. “I was watching a programme on TV and saw the pain and distress of migrants walking on bare feet. I saw a mother dragging her child by the arm, I saw people carrying heavy loads on their heads and shoulders. It made me think deeply and I made the painting,” he replies.

Shivam had with him a red ballpoint pen and some paper on which he drew the colour of blood. Mixed up somewhere in his response to the calamity that he was witnessing were his own angst and insecurity.

Shivam was born in Delhi and has grown up here. His father died a few years ago. He lives with his mother in a rented place in Trilokpuri, a congested resettlement colony. They earn a meagre living by doing menial jobs. Following the lockdown, the family earnings have been severely curtailed. Shivam asks what will happen if the landlord comes and demands the rent. What will they do, where will they go, he wonders.

After making the coloured drawing, Shivam shared it on his school’s WhatsApp group called Library Activity. Students post slogans, pictures and so on there. The image caught the eye of the school head, BP Dhyani. He was impressed, but cautiously asked his son to do a Google check and see if the image had been copied. When he found that it was original, he forwarded it to my friend, his journalist contact.

There is a backstory to Dhyani’s interest in Shivam’s work. Contrary to popular perception of indifference and lack of commitment at government schools, Dhyani and his team are closely involved in the school’s activities. Two years ago, Dhyani became aware of the “multi-talented” Shivam, who was then in Std X. His class teacher brought the boy to Dhyani’s notice. He informed the head that the boy was bright, but was often absent because of health reasons.

Dhyani then spoke to Shivam and discovered that the teen did menial jobs to finance his studies. The principal told Shivam to give up his job and concentrate on his studies and that he would arrange the finances to make it possible for him to do so. That is how Shivam completed his Std X and moved up to the senior school.

Dhyani’s commitment to his school and its students is quite inspirational. The demography of the school’s neighbourhood is very bleak. As Dhyani describes it, most of the households are engaged in lowly jobs in the informal sector.

“Ill-health is a major problem both among the adults and children. Whatever infection is going around, they are sure to catch it,” Dhyani says. Many of them are single-parent households. And most children are from “non-reading, non-literate” families.

To keep the interest in the school alive among his students, Dhyani has been giving equal emphasis to co-curricular activities such as art, music, dance, drama and, above all else, sports. Recently, he had an increase in the budget and created an art room and put up display boards to create an exciting visual environment. There are two art teachers in the school — Ramesh Arya and Rajwati Anand. Shivam mentions them warmly. Says Dhyani, “I want to give the students the opportunity for their individual talents to flourish.”

And Shivam? What are his dreams for the future, after he clears his Std XII? Shyly, he says, “I don’t know for sure but maybe I will study fine arts.” Meanwhile, Dhyani is trying to ensure that Shivam has a hassle-free final year. Embedded in this story of Shivam, Dhyani, and an anguished image of migrants, are a host of fruitful possibilities.

Ella Datta is an art historian and critic

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