chennai these paintings have moved from decorating the durga puja pandals to the walls of the swanky mumbai international airport and delhi metro stationsand its all because patua painter anwar chitrakar believed in his art narrating the history of his community the lone practitioners of the 2500yearold art form of scroll painting from bengal anwar engages a group of students at a weeklong spic macay society for the promotion of indian classical music and culture amongst youth workshop at iit madras i believe that patuas scrolls have a long way to go it is important that youngsters know about our skills so that our tradition and talent are not lost says anwar traditionally patuas or chitrakars painters were nomads their brush strokes chronicled stories from epics they travelled from one village to another carrying the scrolls of paper held together by cloth and sang songs to narrate stories while unfurling the paintings the rich colours were extracted from naturally available materials like raw turmeric for yellow leaves of beans for green and burnt rice or charcoal for black over the years the popularity of patuas declined as people felt the images were repetitive and the younger generation thought the paltry sum was not worth the effort also ostracism from society created a pressure on them they were seen as outcasts as many of them were muslims though we followed islam majority of our work involves hindu mythology so we are looked upon suspiciously by both the communities he says muslim conservatives often ask us to stop work as it is blasphemous but actually it shows our secularity says anawar who received the presidents award in 2006 after the art form faced a crisis in the 1990s it has been revived by newage painters with an eye for marketing anwar being one of the frontrunners he believed that creative contemporary themes were the only hope for the art i realised i had to be different i took up the style kalighat pat that critiqued bengali babus in late 19th century but had gone out of practice postindependence the paintings were well received and galleries approached me to revive the art form patuas no more restrict their painting to hindu mythology they have started integrating social and political issues ranging from 911 attacks to aids awareness anwars earlier works of several footlong scrolls have been replaced by more popular individual panels he has even tried his hand at a graphic novel titled are maoists from lalgarh or is lalgarh the maoists that provides an insight on the police attack on advasis supected to be maoists marketing has brought the community back from the brink many now paint book covers tshirts and decorative items like mugs and vases we have learnt to sell our art he says no matter what the form it will live on