Mumbai: 'Wall of Gratitude' to honour coronavirus warriors

The u00c3u00a2u00c2u0080u00c2u0098Wall of Gratitudeu00c3u00a2u00c2u0080u00c2u0099 is a mural made on RPG house in Worli to honour the Coronavirus warriors for going beyond their call of duty during such hard times

Harsh Goenka. Picture/Humans of Bombay-Instagram

Ever since the outbreak of coronavirus in India, praises have been pouring in for frontline warriors like healthcare workers, civic staff, and police officers, who are performing their duties diligently while putting their lives at risk.

One such appreciation is the ‘Wall of Gratitude’. It is a mural made on RPG house in Worli to honour the Coronavirus warriors for going beyond their call of duty during such hard times. Business magnate Harsh Goenka spoke about this initiative to Humans of Bombay, who shared about it in a heartwarming Instagram post.

The post also has pictures showcasing the massive mural. “As an art lover, I believe what words can’t express, art can. So, I contacted Elsie Nanji & Sameer Kulavoor who brought the idea to life – a ‘Wall of Gratitude’ on RPG house in Worli to pay homage to their bravery,” Goenka said.

The business tycoon further explained the course of how he achieved the feat that he felt was impossible to accomplish during the lockdown. “The BMC gave us permission to start operations in 1 day & Asian Paints gave us the supplies, immediately. The team worked tirelessly to complete the 20-day project in 5 days,” Goenka said.

“The result was astonishing – across a 10,000 sq feet wall, the mural showed Covid warriors from various walks of life, citizens saying, ‘Thank you’ from their windows & phrases like ‘Together we will win,’” the industrialist said, adding that the head of Worli police was moved beyond words after seeing the mural.

Dedicating the mural to ‘migrant workers, frontline warriors and common man at home’, he said, “This piece of art is not just mine, but the city’s possession – to help them find hope & certainty in an uncertain time.”

 

 

 

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“I’m all about feeling happy & making everyone else in my life feel the same way. When someone walks into work on Monday, they should look forward to it the way I do! We like keeping the workplace stress free–a bunch of employees once danced their hearts out in the middle of a work day to ‘Happy’! âÂÂu00c2u0081£ But with the pandemic, we could no longer go to our ‘happy’ office–we were connected only by a screen. The entire city sunk under a layer of panic & sadness. The uncertainty of it all was frightening. âÂÂu00c2u0081£ So we knew we had to do everything we could to help; we distributed over 5 lakh meals to migrant workers & provided protective gear to healthcare workers & police officials! But when I saw how tirelessly our Corona warriors went beyond their call of duty, I knew something big had to be done to honour them–something that would be Mumbai’s way of saying, ‘Thank you!’ These unsung heroes were the immunity system of our nation–constantly fighting the virus on ground, just so we could sleep peacefully. âÂÂu00c2u0081£ As an art lover, I believe what words can’t express, art can. So, I contacted Elsie Nanji & Sameer Kulavoor who brought the idea to life–a ‘Wall of Gratitude’ on the RPG house in Worli to pay homage to their bravery. It seemed impossible to accomplish during a lockdown but we went ahead with it–it felt right. âÂÂu00c2u0081£ The BMC gave us permission to start operations in 1 day & Asian Paints gave us the supplies, immediately. The team worked tirelessly to complete the 20 day project in 5 days. âÂÂu00c2u0081£ The result was astonishing–across a 10,000 sq feet wall, the mural showed Covid warriors from various walks of life, citizens saying, ‘Thank you’ from their windows & phrases like ‘Together we will win.’ When the head of Worli Police saw it, he was moved beyond words & several ministers wrote to me about how this expressed the gratitude they’d been feeling all this while. âÂÂu00c2u0081£ This is one of the most distressing times humanity has faced, but seeing this mural, I realize that we’re all in this together. From migrant workers, to frontline warriors to the common man at home, this piece of art is not just mine, but the city’s possession–to help them find hope & certainty in an uncertain time.”

A post shared by Humans of Bombay (@officialhumansofbombay) onJun 25, 2020 at 5:31am PDT

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The post, shared on Instagram on June 25, garnered 22,400 likes and several comments from people appreciating Goenka for this initiative to honour Coronavirus warriors.

A user said, “Only a happy person can pull this off”. Another said, “No matter what small act of kindness are super effective like handling candy to kid it seems to small but for kid it's more like happiness in form of candy. Very proud to know such health workers who fight for us in this world thank you (sic)”. One user wrote, “Love the gesture from you Sir...”

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