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No writing on the wall? By Nusrat Nasarullah Tense, grim and frenzied as life appears to be unfolding, one often wonders what is the writing on the wall? The immediate reference is to wall chalking. Has one noticed that the volume of wall chalking has declined over the years? Have other forms of communication taken over? Or is the power and the symbolism of the unsaid and the unspoken taking on a larger role? I am reminded of a couplet, which insinuates the richness of the unspoken. It reads thus: "Ankahi Baat Key Sau Roop, Kahi Baat Ka Aik Sun Kabhi Who Bhi Jo Minnat Kash a Goyai Naheen". A colleague of mine observed that now the citizen does not have to read literally the writing on the wall. He knows it already. So many ways to communicate really. Look at the television channels, now. Wall chalking is frowned upon, and in Karachi the city government, coupled with a silent, but nodding public opinion, seems to ensure that wall chalking is a losing proposition. Billboards and hoardings are better options. Has wall chalking died really? Not quite, if one is to go by an advertisement, that I am told appeared last week in Urdu dailies, where in professionals, who could do 'effective and proper' wall chalking were required. It makes one wonder, who the people and organizations behind the advertisement could be. What are the "wall chalkers" required for? Political writing, or commercial, or what? Endless thoughts, myriad options. A Karachiite wonders whether this is for the forthcoming Local Bodies polls, or general elections, that could be in the pipeline. But the fact, that a print media advertisement was issued, reflects the possibility that there is a shortage of these "wall chalkers" or that a higher standard of wall chalking is required!! Wall chalking has been an integral part of the city, even though successive local governments and administrations have invariably acted to thwart it. Sometimes, the wall chalking was done overnight, under the cover of darkness, and the following night there was no writing on the wall. It would depend on the text and tone of the message. Walls always had messages, ranging from political to commercial, and the fact that their number has declined is something that I miss. Like art on trucks and minibuses, perhaps wall chalking, disfiguring a colourless city still more, had profound thematic and cultural value, I daresay. A certain richness that reflected the collective unconscious. If, for example, there was a political leader for whom there was a demand on the wall that he be freed, there could be another wall declaring that a 'long march' was scheduled for a certain date. Or that a religious 'political' party was holding its annual convention and the general public was expected to participate in it. Saying all this reminds one of the 60s, 70s, and even 80s, when wall chalking was particularly evident and visible. Dirty, yes, but eloquent at the same time. Always a clue to what society was saying, or not saying. There were commercial, and downright commercial, writing on the wall. The advertising of dubious products, and the publicity of still more dubious services, and all that gave an insight into the taboo territory, that we have. Quacks and bogus "doctors". Remember. Indeed, the walls of Karachi are cleaner than they were before, and a citizen attributed this to the efforts made by the city government, though there are those people who argue that the reason for this is that those who relied on wall chalking primarily have switched to other options- billboards, hoardings, or simply pamphlets, and bus skins. I don't know. And what about billboards and hoardings that the city is flooded with, and which provide growing revenue to the city government, whom the citizens do not seem to wish to help financially or in other ways. That's (our) civic sense. An apathy that no one seems to be able to tackle. I am distracted here by a somewhat ominous photograph, that I have seen in a daily, wherein a man who got electrocuted while working on a signboards, up in the air, near Regent Plaza, on Sharea Faisal. Incidentally, no other details of the man or the signboards were indicated. Safety at work is a very low priority with us, anyway. Somehow I cannot help thinking of working conditions of such professionals like the poor man electrocuted at a signboard, and whether concepts like insurance mean anything to them. How vulnerable they are - a troubling thought. Anyway, the world of bursting billboards and advertisements is something that often comes up for argument, discussion, and there are strong views on both sides. Should there be more billboard advertising, more hoardings, or should there be less. Are they instrumental in one way or the other in creating hazards for the drivers, who find the hoardings a distraction? One motorist is vehement that the increasing number of hoardings and billboards is a major reason why driving has become that much more unsafe. And at the major traffic intersections, this problem is severe. The city government should come up with a policy to keep the hoardings, in reasonable number he added. On the other hand, there are people who argue that this form of advertising, (scotch prints?) which has come a long way from the days when there was only the hand-painting option is indicative of the urban progress that we have made. Look at the number of consumers, as well as their variety, that are now up for advertising. And thanks to technology, look at the frequency with which they change to meet the strategies of marketing. Marketing strategies, however, now, as a result of the awareness that women should not be used as a ploy and symbol to sell varied promises of welfare and consumer brands, have changed in a way. Or modified for hoardings, here and elsewhere in the country. Those claiming to be opposing the use of women in outdoor advertising have sprayed paint onto the glamourised faces, gradually leading to a situation where advertisers feel they have been curtailed. But then this is a reflection of the socio-religious factors that determine public behaviour? If chalking on the walls was an indication of being driven to the wall, and if the city's walls are clean, today, (read often) then it means those with causes, and messages, have chosen to come out in the open. Which means that the writing on the wall is that the public opinion in this society doesn't want to move that slow. And a part of me still yearning for those unclean, badly written, overwritten messages on Karachi walls, that remind me of the naive optimism that we had, almost once upon a time! Anytime wall chalking to these billboards. Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)
