Wall chalking in Karachi. D.Kazi, CC BY-NC-ND.
Intelligence agencies and the press pick up writings that appear overnight as a show of political strength or indicators of political party infighting. Sometimes walls carry threats against specific people, such as “ainda na dehkoon ” (this should not happen again) written by “bosses” to keep the local heavies in check. These are usually written in Urdu calligraphic style.
An unusual message stands out for its untidy spray painted phrase “Perfume Chowk”. Curious viewers discovered it was a message written by the heroic owner of a small stall selling *attar* in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, whose stall was regularly destroyed by people to whom he refused to give protection money.
A people’s narrative Countries have many narratives: the official state narrative, the narratives of friends and allies, that of enemies, of moral custodians; and then there is the complex, layered narrative of a country’s people. These occupy sociologists, historians, literary critics, artists, film-makers, musicians, novelists and poets. Beneath the surface waves, one has to dive deeper to understand the true nature of the soul of a people, but occasionally the hidden becomes visible and lends itself to decoding.
This is most true of the place occupied by poetry in Pakistan. Classic forms can be of religious songs such as naats , qawalis and marsias.
But often poems are also more worldly love songs of film; colourful metaphors that take place during mushairas or poetry events. The preferred form of Urdu poetry is the ghazal , or couplet, which has its origins in Arabic literature via Persian poetry. Ghazals are composed as sophisticated conceits, ostensibly about love, longing, separation and loss, but imply commentaries that range from Sufi love of the divine, to local politics.
Hearing the voice of the individual
The decorated transport of Pakistan is much celebrated for its excessive colourful adornment and painted images. Less noticed are the embedded verses that are an essential part of all trucks, buses and rickshaws.
These are attempted conversations with “someone out there”, an amplification of one’s presence in a society that renders the common man invisible. “Whispering in our ears ”, these writings express personal feelings, outrage or simply indignation, loss, desire, or a moment of reflection.
Hungarian philosopher Ferenc Hörcher has suggested that conversation “liberates the human self from the bondages of practical life and brings about a sense of equilibrium”. Intimate expressions are externalised in the public sphere addressing an assumed community. These writings symbolise an attempt to wrest authorship by marginalised citizens.
As Pakistani poet Noon Meem Rashid (1910-1975) wrote:
From amidst the crowd of men The voice of the individual is heard
There are 600,000 commercial vehicles, which include buses, trucks and three wheelers (among them rickshaws), that circulate on 260,760 km of roads according to 2010 data published by the government. Most of these vehicles carry writings.