Stuck in Pune due to Covid, Hong Kong-based doc’s murals spread positivity

Dr Banga has been making her presence felt in Kalyaninagar, not with her medical prowess per se, but with a paint brush and the area’s walls as her canvas

Dr Pratishtha Banga, an MD in Pharmacology from GMC Aurangabad, and an MBBS from the BJ Medical College in Pune, is acutely aware of the challenges the medical fraternity in the city face on a daily basis battling the Covid-19 pandemic.

Murals, telling inspirational stories of Covid warriors, created by pharmacology doctor Pratishtha Banga adorn the walls along the Vitthalrao Vandekar road in Kalyaninagar. (Shankar Narayan/HT PHOTO)

Dr Banga lives and practices in Hong Kong, but given the lockdown scenario, both here and abroad, she has been in Pune for the last five months.

Dr Banga has been making her presence felt in Kalyaninagar, not with her medical prowess per se, but with a paint brush and the area’s walls as her canvas.

“I don’t have to do clinic duties, but watching my other friends during these Covid time gave me the inspiration to paint a mural of a female doctor – who is currently multi-tasking. I just want people to notice how bravely doctors and nurses are managing everything during these Covid time, and that they should be respected and not attacked,” says Dr Banga, who by her art, a mere hobby of hers, is spreading a positive vibe and giving Kalyaninagar an uplifting aesthetic in these pandemic times.

Every day, for three days, from 9am to 7pm, Dr Banga was out on the street painting.

Dr Banga, who is in Pune visiting her parents who live here, began the art work on July 9 and was done by July 11.

She used exterior Acrylic Emulsion paints and has put in around Rs 3,500 for the art work.

“I came here in December 2019. Since the Covid cases were increasing in Hong Kong at the time, I stayed back and had no idea that India would go into lockdown. Painting walls is my hobby for which I spare seven hours a week since my college days,” she says.

“These paintings are for all the doctors who are performing high-risk duties. I have my brother who works in Mumbai treating Covid patients and after work he comes home to a three-year-old son. Doctors are having the hardest life and if I get the chance I would like to do some more such paintings to inspire them,” she says.

The murals are now an attraction in Kalyaninagar.

“A few days back I noticed the paintings – and it is a wonderful way to thank the doctors. Being a doctor who is treating Covid patients, I feel good looking at the wall while going home every day,” says Dr Dhanshree Rapitwar, who works in one private hospital and lives in Kalyaninagar.