LAHORE, March 6: “Happy birthday, Toto. Sorry Toto, it was my fault” This is one of the many messages splashed across the outer walls of a girls’ college on Jail Road.

The walls, the nearby bus stop, and similar public places, especially outside the girls colleges, are painted with similar graffiti all over the city.

Graffiti is not something new. But the trend is changing fast. Most of the messages give cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses of both boys and girls.

Boys leave their numbers to seek girls’ attention. The telephone numbers and e-mail addresses of girls are said to painted by boys when the former do not respond to their calls.

One such message contains the name of a girl and her phone number written close to the main gate of a women’s college. When contacted, she gasped, “Oh, no! Please, wipe that number off,” she requested. She had a fair idea of who could have done this. “He did so because I did not respond to his attempts to contact me,” she claimed. “Is this the way to settle scores?” she asked.

Dr Nausheen, head of the Punjab University Centre for Clinical Psychology, termed graffiti a perverted from of social behaviour. In the west, she said, it had also been a source of creativity and abstract art. “It is common in the adolescent age group and is actually an attention seeking attempt by those who have been introverts in their upbringing,” she said. Media exposure has contributed to the trend, Dr Nausheen suggested that those involved did not need any treatment. “With the passage of time, such people get normal on their own.”

“These are not love messages. Nor can we call it a positive activity,” says Dr Haroon Rasheed, head of the Psychiatry Ward of the Fatima Jinnah Medical College. “Lack of interest in positive activities is the main factor in expressing oneself in this way,” he adds.

Basically, Dr Rasheed says, “Such people have some personality disorder. Its roots are in the lack of learning in social and religious values. Mostly, this way of conveying love does not work out but such people carry on the activity because they don’t feel ashamed of what they are doing.”

The outer walls of another college were recently whitewashed. Under the whitewash, however, some of the graffiti was still visible. “Rosebell@love.com,” reads one of the messages. Yet another graffiti, written by some ‘A’ for ‘S’ asks: “Don’t you love me?” It is followed by dozens of As, Ss and A-plus-Ss.

Even blood is used to convey the message. One Babar has painted a heart sign with B and S in its middle with blood on a wall of the Baradri of the Bagh-i-Jinnah. Whether he used his own blood or that of an animal is not clear. “Babar loves S” has been added at the end of the heart sign.

The Baradri is full of love messages and phone numbers. One Ali, who has also left his cell phone number, has advised one R: “Dil Pay Mat Lay Yar.” One Shoaib has also left his number stating that: “It is available for fun.”

When contacted, a senior police officer said the police had nothing to do with the problem. “It is not our job to remove these writings.” — ASIF SHAHZAD