1/9 An Indian child rides past a mural depicting Jhansi ki Rani, or the Queen of Jhansi, the 18th-century Hindu warrior queen Laxmi Bai who fought British colonialists during the first war of independence over 150 years ago, painted on a wall in New Delhi.

SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP

2/9 A dabbawala - Mumba'is famous tiffin carrier deliveryman - walks past a wall mural created by students as part of a project aimed at making the city cleaner and more beautiful in Mumbai.

INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / AFP PHOTO

3/9 A commuter walks past a wall mural created by students as part of a project aimed at making the city cleaner and more beautiful in Mumbai capital.

INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP

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4/9 An Indian woman with traditional dresses and ornaments sit in front of a graffiti on a wall in Pushkar during the world famous Pushkar Camel festival.

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5/9 A graffity of Shiva is painted on a wall high above the holy river Ganges.

Frank Bienewald/LightRocket via Getty Images

6/9 Street seller carrying vegetables by a wall painting of Radha and Krishna on a swing, Gokarna.

Marji Lang/LightRocket via Getty Images

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7/9 Colourful graffiti art on a wall in Pondicherry.

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8/9 A Muslim woman in burqa walks past a wall graffiti depicting an old Bollywood movie in Bandra.

Subhendu Sarkar/LightRocket via Getty Images

9/9 A child runs past a graffiti image of Rabindranath Tagore in north Kolkata.

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Desi graffiti turns walls into colourful canvases

Sehar Qazi @CatchNews | Updated on: 15 October 2016, 16:35 IST

"Imagine a city where graffiti wasn\'t illegal, a city where everybody could draw whatever they liked. Where every street was awash with a million colours and little phrases. Where standing at a bus stop was never boring. A city that felt like a party where everyone was invited, not just the estate agents and barons of big business. Imagine a city like that and stop leaning against the wall - it\'s wet." -Banksy, Wall and Piece

Graffiti in theory is any writing or drawing scribbled, scratched or painted illicitly on a wall or other surface, often within public view.

But in reality, graffiti artists express their emotions through their art and breathe life into dreary, flat walls, often turning them into standalone masterpieces.

Graffiti explores underlying social and political messages through artistic expression, helping us to gain insight into the lifestyles and languages of past cultures, just like any cultural artifact preserved through history.

Social media has helped graffiti artists come together like never before and platforms like Facebook and Instagram have given them a space to express themselves in front of the whole world.

Armed with spray paints and marker pens, these artists became famous for their unique hobby in the west during the 70s. But graffiti, as a culture, took its own sweet time to find its way into India.

Check out some cool graffiti from India here.

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Sehar Qazi @CatchNews