
You are cordially invited to meet a huge herd of elephants which will be at the Gateway of India on Sunday, March 3, 2018!
You are cordially invited to meet a huge herd of elephants which will be at the Gateway of India on Sunday, March 3, 2018! Later, these elephants will be herded to public spots across Mumbai till March 18.
No, these are not actual elephants brought to the city from forests. They are the works of 101 artists who have designed these sculptures for a very noble cause.
The sculptures will be displayed as a part of an auction under the Elephant Parade initiative.
The initiative aims to auction off the art pieces and utilise the money raised from the sale to build 101 passages—called elephant corridors—for wild animals to cross human areas safely.
The “Elephant Parade” initiative is hosted by a UK-based charity called Elephant Family. It will host the works of eminent artists like Anita Dongre, Brinda Miller, Gaurav Gupta etc. Farah Siddiqui, an art consultant, has also got artists like LN Tallur and Lado Bai a part of this campaign.
Amitabh Bachchan is also set to be one among the creators of these elephant structures across Mumbai!

“There are 30,000 elephants in India—all in need of a place to live and food to eat. There are also about 1 billion people, all in need of the same things as the elephants.
Traditionally, elephants have come off second best in this stark conflict-of-interest scenario, and that is why the forests where they live are now isolated little islands surrounded by a great heaving ocean of humanity,” say the organisers.

Ruth Ganesh, the trustee of Elephant Family, told Hindustan Times, “Everyone has an elephant story, of feeding them, or of them walking on the road. We hope that by leaving the artwork for the public to play with, they will connect to the cause of elephant protection.”
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The bidding can be done on any elephant structure which is on the Mumbai streets. All these items have a base price between Rs 3-5 lakh, and the bidding will be open during the days of display.

Interested? You can check out more information about the Elephant Parade on their website or Facebook page.
Featured image sources: Facebook/ Facebook.