KARACHI: With the start of the new academic session, there is the seasonal call to schooling through the writings on the wall — advertising the many schools in Karachi [June 23]. These writings appear on almost any white spot that the calligraphists of the road-side advertising firms find on boundary walls, bus stops and houses here, there and everywhere.

The writings say almost everything that would lure the parents to seek admission of their children to these newly-opened or not too well-known institutions, particularly those who fail to get admission in reputed schools.

The calligraphists compete among themselves for the vantage points, and some do not even hesitate to rub off the previous advertisements to put up their own. With brush and ink, these calligraphists are usually escorted by a couple of unskilled persons whose main job is to carry the load of the raw material used in these writings — the ladder, a can of paint, and the liquid lime to rub off the previous writings if necessary.

The calligraphists are engaged by the organisations on whose behalf the road-side advertising is done. The choice of the site and the type of the writing is left to the good sense and “taste” of the calligraphists. — Correspondent

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2018