AROE IN NEW DEHLI, INDIA

Never one to accept defeat, after being denied entry into the U.S. by over-zealous customs officials at LAX. Aroe decided to take a trip to New Dehli, India instead…

New Delhi, India. June 2009.
Not meant as a graffiti trip, didn’t plan anything, didn’t expect anything, wasn’t even really about that.. This was a short sight seeing tour of the capital of India and its surrounding areas. Me my girl, some cash, a taxi driver, a few grout pens and some montanas that magically didn’t get pulled out of my luggage. Heres sort of how it went (well, the graffiti part anyway)..

Tested the water with some blatant doing tags in front of people.

That worked out ok..

so i did some more..

And more.
Perhaps it was the fact that they didn’t have a clue what i was doing or they didn’t care, as eating is probably topping their list of priorities before asking a man (about a foot taller and wider than anyone there) to stop it.

After killing off the pens in double quick time i had about two hours before the next part of me and my girls itinery came into play, so i started searching for a wall to paint. Not such an easy task when every local encourages you to paint their neighbours wall without any permission and no idea as to the reaction from the cops.. Would they care? is it actually a crime in a country that looks like a nuclear bomb packed with rubbish had just gone off? There was no way to tell, so it came down to how good the spot was rather than who owned it.

So after selecting a dope spot i set about dropping what i hoped would be a lowkey 20 minute daytime piss take..

This didn’t happen.
within seconds of me sketching the ‘S’ of a MSK block the street was packed with onlookers and beggars watching me blast a whole tin of chrome onto the main street hot spot. Did i say hot? not only was the temperature 45 degrees but the wall was part of the childrens hospital. The security guards started pouring out of the gates to see why the street was packed with people only to find yours truly redecorating their dull but unblemished main wall with what they refered to as ‘printing’??? As the situation started taking that familiar slide into ‘custody’ territory i made my exit by simply walking off. Neither blending in or making much of what i would consider a standard escape what was the point?
Undetered i still had to do something, anybody thats ever travelled to India will tell you its impossible to be from the west and be alone. within metres of crossing the street i had developed a new posse hell bent on finding me a new spot.. It was bananas.
I made it less than 2 minutes from the first spot before this alleyway wall on the main street teased me into a second attempt.

My posse and ‘friends’ stood around entertained as i sweated my way through this ‘not bad considering’ effort that now takes pride of place on the side of a mobile phone shop in central Delhi.

All in all, if you were going on a graffiti campaign, India wouldn’t know what was going on frankly. I reckon you could do as many a day as you wanted, it would just be a case of what paint to use and where to get it.

HOT AS HELL AND TWICE AS SMELLY = DELHI.

TAKEN FROM HEAVYARTILLERYCREW.COM