Graffiti speaks

No one can fix an accurate price tag on defacement of walls and bridges in this city though some people profess to see an aesthetic value in the passion for what they call an artwork. Such ‘artwork’ is rarely reported though it covers everything from toilet doodles to political graffiti on street walls, bridges and flyovers.
There are so many of them in this city that one generally ignores such squiggles but a few do catch one’s sight. For instance, the poorly written one ‘Perfume Chowk’, born a couple of years ago in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, has spread to many other parts of the city by now. The psyche that public space is up for grabs perhaps works behind such ‘art’ potential to appear on walls.
If one looks closely, one will notice all kinds of slogans from advertising catchwords to political cries sprayed or painted on the walls of public property. One such picturesque site is a short wall along the city’s main artery near Karsaz that carries a public message by traffic police perhaps. It was almost two weeks ago that some graffiti artists sneaked over the place to draw their lines and successfully managed to give it an artistic touch. Interestingly, no one at the helms of affairs has caught its notice or may be there are some more important tasks ahead.—HA