Paintings of IIIT

Walking along the streets on our campus is a feeling that can’t be replicated in any corner of this world. And one of the biggest blink-and-you’ll-miss-it components of that feeling are the various paintings found along the walls that trail along campus streets. 

The annual Felicity wall painting is one of the most anticipated events of the year, and provides beginners and experts alike with an opportunity to forget everything else, put on some headphones, gather their friends, and drown in their creations. These paintings serve as a signifier of a moment in time, allowing students to leave behind a legacy, a footprint of their time here. 

So, with the hope of invoking that magical feeling, and to capture the art pieces scattered around before they’re replaced, we interviewed some of last year’s artists and had them talk about their creations, experiences, and everything else that went into the process.

Here are some of the paintings you may (or not) have been lucky to see:

Among Us Imposters

UG2021 was a unique batch in more ways than one. Caught in the midst of a world still struggling but also moving on from COVID-19, this batch made a lot of their core teen memories at home. And amongst those memories were countless hours spent daily on Among Us, the gaming phenomenon that took over the world. Here’s an interview with Poorvi, one of the artists:

Q) How did you and your team decide on the theme? Were there any debates or funny disagreements?

P: We always wanted to paint a wall. It was a way to leave something behind on campus before we left. And last year was basically our last opportunity for that. We thought of a lot of options, initially we wanted to do something on the theme of major pop culture themes of that year… Barbenheimer, Spider-Verse… a whole lot of Pinterest searching. Mind you, none of us can paint nor do we have an artistic bone in our body. So, we wanted something very simple to draw and paint.

Q) Do you still feel a small tinge of happiness/nostalgia when you walk past your creation, or is it just normal to you now?

P: Of course I do! We painted that together and it took almost a week of painting and dealing with mosquitos to finish it. The atmosphere of everyone painting together, listening to music, fighting over paints, lost paintbrushes!

Q) The painting happens overnight—what was the energy like at 5 AM? Any funny or chaotic incidents?

P: Not many incidents as far as I remember. It was just a rush to finish before Felicity. Since our painting was very simple, a lot of people especially from our batch stopped by our painting and contributed even if it was a single brush stroke. It felt great and whenever a new person came up, they stayed for a chat and vibed to the music!

ASEC Minion Olympics

ASEC (Amateur Sports Enthusiasts Club) stands amongst IIIT’s oldest and largest clubs. And whilst one may not think of painting when they think of sports, this wall merges the two worlds together seamlessly, creating a beautiful blend of ideas that leaves a smile on your face every time you walk by it. Here’s ASEC member Bipasha talking about the piece:

Q) What’s the most fond memory you have of that day?

B: Vinkesh sir joined us to draw and all of us pulled all-nighters trying to complete the painting. 3 of us were tired to the point where it felt like we were dying and there’s someone trying to crack jokes!

Q) How does it feel looking at the painting now compared to when it was first finished?

B: ASEC is an emotion for me and everybody who’s a part of it. When we completed it then, it felt very “idk” but lovely and lively I guess! But when I see it now, it reminds me of the struggle and hard-work and effort we put into painting it as a team, and it reminded us that ASEC is not just about sports but that we can do anything!

Q) If you had to pass one message to the next team painting this wall, what would it be?

B: It’s not what you paint, and how you paint it, but rather the matter of teamwork and the bonding you have and the bonds you make while painting! I, as the coordinator, or as a member of ASEC, will always be proud of what you do <3

Snoopy Sleeping in a Starry Night

Just like how all of us need a break from the constant pressure of assignments, labs, classes, and the constant voices of kassis in our head boasting about their marks, so does Snoopy. This painting mixes the modern art styles of comic cartoon strips and the timeless style of van Gogh, paying homage to his “Starry Nights” piece. This is how our conversation with one of the artists, Ihsan, went:

I: Also before we start, fair warning, our wall was broken for Kadamba renovations :’(

Q) The painting happens overnight—what was the energy like at 5 AM? Any chaotic incidents? Did anyone quit, did people join in, what was the vibe?

I: We had to revamp a lot of the painting on the day of, as we painted with bad lighting and realized “Shit this looks bad in the sun.” So, the last day was pretty bad, we had just come from dance practice and had to stay up for a couple more hours to finish everything.

A lot of people joined in–most people who contributed extensively to the painting were not in our original group– like friends who were walking by and wanted to help. 

Also, fun story, when we just started painting, it looked very bland, so people who didn’t know what the end plan was didn’t trust the process, and there was quite a bit of trolling (see below).

 But that just served as extra motivation for us to make it look sexy to make random strangers eat their words.

Q) If you could go back in time, would you change anything about your painting or the process?

I: Probably get better lighting haha! A lot of the re-working we had to do could have been avoided if we took care of that initially. Also, we’d choose another wall, since our wall got demolished anyway.

Q) If your wall had a soundtrack, what song would perfectly represent it?

I: One song I remember is Duvet – bôa, we played that song a lot while painting. Also, an easy answer would be Starman – David Bowie!

F.R.I.E.N.D.S – I’ll Be There For You


Sitcoms are often the best escape from reality, especially when it comes to binging endless seasons of a show you’ve seen 15 times already at 4 AM under your blanket when you have class at 8:30 A.M… too relatable? F.R.I.E.N.D.S is notorious for topping everyone’s favourites list, and it’s only right it has its own wall on campus, because the real college truly is the friends you make along the way. Here’s our conversation with Navya, Virat, and Ishita, three of the artists that worked on this wall:

Q) How did you and your team decide on the theme? What were your inspirations?

N: As a part of Artsoc, we were searching for inspiration for the wall that Artsoc would be making, and in the process, a fellow member found a faceless version of the iconic poster and it instantly clicked for me. So, we decided to make it separately on our own. It was also a sort of tribute to Matthew Perry at the time.

I: I thought of it because the show left a deep impression on many people, especially after Matthew Perry’s untimely demise. When I proposed the idea, I realized that many students were fans of the show, especially as it was a comfort show for many during their JEE preparations.

V: We were just relaxing as a group, looking for something new and exciting to do together. Just then, we came across the wall painting event and decided to participate. Thinking back to the beautifully painted walls in our college, we imagined our artwork becoming a lasting part of the campus, inspiring future students. Our goal was to create something that would celebrate and uplift the spirit of friendship for years to come. One can’t find a better alternative than “F.R.I.E.N.D.S” to portray that.

Q) What was the most unexpected or rather memorable moment whilst painting?

I: It was surprising how many people connected with the artwork. Some even stopped by just to watch us paint. A student whom I didn’t even know even came up and took a picture with the wall! There was also a moment where someone accidentally smudged the paint and we had to improvise to fix it. The pastel coloured bubbles in the background were painted as a result of that.

Q) How does it feel looking at the painting now compared to when it was first finished?

N: It’s pretty much the same feeling, it feels amazing every time I pass by it. It was my first time wall-painting and it was a great experience which I get reminded of.  Secondly, I felt that it turned out much better than my initial expectations.

I: When I first finished it, I would just stand and stare at it every time I exited the hostel. Sometimes, I’d see people there and quietly listen as they appreciated it. It gave me a deep sense of appreciation and pride in my work. Even now, I feel the same excitement every time I see it, knowing that it’ll be there until I graduate. 

V: It’s like a mark that I remember and also gives me nostalgia about my 1st year (the best year of college in my opinion) and acts like a flashback to the moment when we painted it!

Robotic Arm

With the recent advancements in the field of AI, students have found more uses for AI than just GPT’ing their coding assignments. This painting finds comfort in the fact that whilst the idea may have been AI generated, at least its painters aren’t. And luckily for them, the Kadamba walls aren’t getting MOSSed anytime soon. Here’s our conversation with Radheshyam, one of the wall’s artists:

Q) How did you and your team decide on the theme? Were there any debates or funny disagreements?

R: This was around the time when generative models and ChatGPT blew up. We were thinking of doing a painting with the theme of harmony between humans and AI, and were browsing for images with this theme. That’s when we got the idea to use AI to generate an image about harmony between AI and humans/nature! It felt like a very interesting idea to create an AI generated image and paint it. We even thought we should put “Generated by AI” at the bottom of the wall, but we didn’t end up doing that.

Q) If you were put on the spot right now, what would you choose to paint? 

R: To be honest, I don’t think I can paint right now! It was the last few months of college for some of my friends and we wanted to do something new and interesting together. We wanted to leave our mark on the campus. None of us are really artists either. It happened spontaneously back then. I doubt we’ll paint together again. Regardless, those were fun memories.

Q) If you could go back in time, would you change anything about your painting or the process?

R: One thing is we kind of ran out of time. Most of us were in our 4th year back then, and went on a trip during Felicity haha! We couldn’t finish it before going. Luckily, Rohan, a UG1 student who was helping us, carried our team, and finished the painting while we went. But yeah, it would’ve been good if we were there to finish it.

With the 2025 paintings already under way, the campus is buzzing with an air of excitement, with loud music and the sounds of laughter echoing through campus streets, along with stray paint brushes lying scattered every couple of steps. The walls are ready to welcome their new faces home, and we can’t wait to see the beautiful canvases that are going to enclose campus roads once again.

Until next year!