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Our
rebel art MOOD
STREET Town Talk crime
Graffiti, elsewhere a medium of mass communication and social awakening, is being used here to relieve frustrations By Khan Shehram Eousophzye
Youth represents the pinnacle of an individual's existence, a period filled
with adventure. Graffiti has been around since the beginning of human history -- when humans began articulating their achievements and feelings through drawings in the cave. Modern day graffiti shows the rebellious streak of youth who have been oppressed, rather rejected by a system. In Pakistan quite a number of people, tagged as oppressed or rejected, attempted graffiti. In some cases, it fell victim to low aesthetics and vandalism. Bilal, a student of a private university of liberal arts, says: "Graffiti is an expression of my mind, it's my thoughts coming to reality. The graffiti I do is the manifestation of a thought so that everybody can see what I'm thinking."
Graffiti in the past has been used as a medium of mass communication and has
been In Lahore a new breed of graffiti artists has surfaced in the last few years. They are aware of the pros and cons of this branch of art. Their highly abstract and carefully designed pieces of art do carry a social message across and are a feast for the eyes. The main social problem that these artists have lashed upon is concentration of power among the elite of this country and how the 'class of haves' has marginalised the poor and downtrodden class. Madio is the pseudo name of one of these enlightened graffiti artist. Madio explains, "I felt oppressed so I started doing graffiti. I took it up as a mode of escapism from this fake social atmosphere. But with the passage of time I started feeling that graffiti can be used as a medium to educate people about the basics that they have long forgotten." Today many people frown when they see this type of an art form because they know the origin of graffiti. Graffiti is a product of the Hippy and Hip Hop culture that became popular in the 1970s and the 1980s. Hip Hop culture presents the negative side of young people and a carefree lifestyle with no rules and regulations to follow. The masses and the art critics won't even consider graffiti as an art form because they think that defacing property without the consent of the owner is vandalism and eventually leads to an insecure feeling among the residents of a specific locality.
The graffiti artists in Lahore have their own side of the story. They say that
in this In Lahore graffiti has been used for materialistic and profitable ends. A year back a designer brand popular among the youth attracted the attention of the people towards their brand by hiring some graffiti artists from a private university for making a graffiti advertisement of their brand on M.M Alam Road where the brand was to open their new outlet. Madio says: "Hiring graffiti artists for advertisement campaigns is a good strategy but it should not be considered as a leap forward for graffiti in this area. Like in a guerilla war, you hit and you run, similarly in graffiti you paint your thoughts, you convey your message and you go. Bringing money into this form of art is like giving materialistic colour to our mode of thinking." These Lahori graffiti artists have been a part of gallery art but what made them come out on the roads in the dark was their curiosity to paint on a larger canvas (the walls), and add life and colour to dull locations. Another major graffiti artist says: "At one point I became fed-up of this gallery art. Some art critics will walk over towards your painting and will start criticising maliciously. For an artist, criticism results in a healthy environment but malicious criticism kills him from inside. So from thereon I thought of why not let the masses judge creativity." In an effort to reduce vandalism some private art universities have provided space for the students to paint their ideas on the walls. This attempt has to some extent reduced the energised youth to go out on the roads and mutilate public property. The art critics should consider graffiti as a branch of modern art and understand graffiti's social significance. Rather than taking this rebellious trend into consideration people stay back and call it wrong. The reasons that force these young vitalised people to come out on roads and break rules and regulations should be thought over. At least by doing graffiti they are doing something beautiful and not wasting their energies in doing something negative. MOOD STREET Laziness a virtue, easier said than done By Farah Zia The more I think about it, the more fascinated I am by the Lahori work ethic. We prefer not having to go to work. Nothing compared to a day or a week off, if it can be managed. If not, we choose to delay going to work for as long as possible. And once at the workplace, we like to let go of the work part if possible and prefer being seen at work only, without actually working. It's fascinating, life without stress, the joy of laziness experienced to the nth. But the attitude is not Lahore specific, I am told. It's a cultural trait shared by most Pakistanis, except those who live in Karachi. Karachi, they say, is another city. 'Very professional' is how they described it. Poor things, those in Karachi, who don't know the joy of living. The sloth, in our case, not just cuts geographical boundaries; it ignores class barriers too. It is indeed a treat to watch how those who the world thinks need to work most reject it with the contempt it rightfully deserves. I think they -- the maasi or the maali or the driver -- should just be left alone when they take days, weeks or months off, if they're doing it happily. Happiness is what counts, you see. Left to myself, I would just ignore all other indices used to measure human development in place of happiness. Not an original thought, happiness has already been recognised, though not essentially applied to the discipline. And development economists are trying their best to spoil it by substituting it with 'life satisfaction' etc. For me, it's only unqualified happiness; you know it when you are happy. Actually we must all learn to relax and enjoy. After all, justifying laziness as a virtue is easier done than said. Honestly there is not much doing involved, you just have to be lazy, that's it. Therefore I am not very pleased with the pretence of work -- people who choose to look busy doing nothing. Technology comes in handy to these killjoys who in reality are as good work-shirkers as the rest of us. A cell phone is their -- as well as our -- favourite device, apparently acquired to improve efficiency or get more work. But it's a device that in reality is used to avoid work. Like geography and class, the tradition of not working is kept alive by religion. Like many others, our clergy also defies all logic of protestant ethics. Religion should have nothing to do with work or its ethics, the clergy thinks and proves. On an optimistic note, in so doing and thinking they are in complete harmony with the rest of society. A chance hiring of two qaris for children in the last two years proved the point. You could not question their professionalism. No way. Both carried mobiles, fixed their salary as well as the off days and the teaching time on day one. One must confess that it was not entirely expected when the two weekly off days extended to five or six in each case, the twenty minute reserved for teaching Quran shrunk to five and both stopped coming without ever being asked to. What else can one say except Deen or duniya ka haseen imtizaj. ********** The happy mood persists when one sees the young traffic wardens in place of the old tullas with their bulging waistlines; you couldn't tell one from the other and this was not just because of the uniforms. Frankly you did not want to notice the difference. I am especially thrilled at the female traffic wardens and would actually like to see them on the forefront, in the middle of crossings, controlling traffic besides adding colour to the dull landscape. Gender not being my cup of tea, I've still talked about the lack of women in public sphere often. Just by way of observation and not complaint. But this time round, with women put in a position of authority, things will move in the forward direction, if they haven't already.
• Iqbal Geoffery's Solo Exhibition on Sep 7 - 16 Oct at Zahoor ul Akhlaq: National College of Arts • Exhibition Calligraphy - Ustad Irfan Ahmad Khan on Sep 3 -12 at Alhamra Arts Council - The Mall • Exhibition by Ghazanfar Ali Duration: on 04 Sep- 09 at Nairang Gallery from 11:00 AM To 11:00 PM • Paintings by Tasneem Azhar on 07- 13 Sep 2007 at Annemarie-Schimmel-Haus • Amna Ilyas Exhibition of sculptures on 10 -16 Sep National College of Arts • Abstract figurative works by Mansoor Aye on11-30 Sep at Croweaters Gallery • Art Exhibition by Lahore College for Women Duration: on 4 Sep- 16 Sep 2007 from10:30 a.m to 04:00 p.m at Alhamra Arts Council - The Mall crime Search for Tariq Mehmood As heartbreaking as Tariq's disappearance is, for now Noor Muhammad and his family can only stare at his small, palm-sized polaroid photograph By Sonya Rehman Like thousands of
kidnapped, unresolved cases, a young fourteen year old boy Tariq So what really happened? Studying at a local mosque (Noor Masjid) located in Kot Radha Krishan district Kasur, Tariq disappeared one morning without even the slightest of trace. Tariq's father, Noor Muhammad stated: "When we realised something was wrong since Tariq hadn't arrived back home, we began searching the entire madrasa but to no avail. Then we found out through a little boy who was my son's friend, and whose family we knew very well, that Tariq had been spotted in a house, in a small village called Chak number Pachwinja (55), one kilometre away from our village, with three unidentified men." The family succeeded in getting FIR registered in Kot Radha Krishan police chowki on September 1, more than a month after the incident. And those three men were later identified as Riaz, Akbar and Boota. Out of those three Akbar was caught on the 30th of the same month. Since Tariq's family had absolutely no help from the police in their area, Tariq's uncle, Arshad, had to do everything on his own -- from searching for the criminals to gathering sufficient evidence regarding his nephew's disappearance. "When I caught Akbar, he stated that he had handed over Tariq to a man called Iqbal Hadi Hassan and later on when we finally found and approached Iqbal who was accompanied by Asghar -- who was to speak on Iqbal's behalf, Asghar admitted that it was in fact Iqbal who had kidnapped Tariq," stated an exasperated Arshad. So what happened next? Apparently after four whole days, the accused Akbar and Iqbal were finally brought to the police station where Akbar declared that Tariq had been killed and that Akbar knew where the child had been buried. But as expected, Akbar's declaration turned out to be a lie as after a particular grave was dug up, the body was found to be someone else's which meant only one thing -- that Tariq was still alive. But wait, the plot thickens
here, as the very next day the police released Iqbal. "We have Case investigation officer Sub-Inspector Akram Wattoo tells TNS that the family had nominated five persons and all are in police custody. "We are interrogating them but so far have found new clue from them," said the police. He tells that it is right that police released two of the accused but it was just because Tariq's father was pressurised to do so. "He told us that accused Akbar and Iqbal had assured us that they would help them in searching their son if police releases them but when we saw they are just trying to make fool of both Tariq's family and the police, we arrested them again some days ago," said the SI. According to the investigation officer, Tariq was not abducted. In fact he ran away from his home due to fear of punishment. "He used to go to a madrasa but some weeks before he went missing he had started evading classes on a regular basis. His teacher (Maulvi) is a very strict person and he would punish him physically. Along with this, he also informed Tariq's father about his activities. The father also started treating his son in the same way. The day he ran away from his school, he got a very severe punishment from the Maulvi who told him that his father had also been informed. That is the reason he ran away from the house," he told TNS. He said it took long to register FIR because in the beginning the family of Tariq was of the view that he was absent from the madrasa. They first tried themselves to find him but when they failed they thought he had been abducted. He says it is true that he was seen last time with the persons nominated in the FIR on a shrine where these five spend most of their time preparing and drinking hemp. "If police is not willing to help how has it caught all five persons nominated in the case," the SI questioned. As heartbreaking as Tariq's disappearance is, for now, Noor Muhammad and his family, can only stare at a small, palm-sized Polaroid photograph of Tariq which Noor keeps in his breast pocket at all times. It has a sky blue background and shows young Tariq with his large brown eyes, dressed in a crisp, white shalwar kameez, shyly smiling back into the camera. This is not the first time a child has gone missing from Kot Radha Kishan. It is said a child was taken to a Baigar camp in interior Sindh from this place six years back and returned home after much travail. This story never reached the press because people fear for life and what is more precious than life.
This is a time when both summer and winter stocks have been put on sale to make room for new stuff. Here's a market survey By Aoun Sahi With the summer season
almost ending, discount mania has hit the city yet again as Many women shopping in different markets tell TNS that they do wait for this time to buy these items for their family. "This year it is more fascinating than usual as Eid is just a month away," tells enthusiastic Munazza, a mother of two sons, shopping from Naqi Market at The Mall. She thinks it is the best time to buy clothes and shoes for her 7 and 10 year old sons. "You can get quality brands and save money at the same time. So far I have bought garments and shoes worth Rs. 8,000," says Munazza. She has bought clothes for herself as well. "I think in June or July same garments and shoes would have cost me at least Rs. 14,000," she says. Most of the things she has bought will be used in next summer. Everyone doesn't benefit from these offers. "A man will pay Rs. 50 for a Rs. 30 item he needs. A woman will pay Rs. 50 for a Rs. 30 item that she does not need. That is the philosophy of discount offers," says Mustafa, a young irritated husband carrying a baby standing outside a market, as his wife is busy shopping on cheaper rates for the last two hours. All women shoppers are not
lured by discount offers. "Discount offers are just publicity Shopkeepers say that both they and customers benefit from the opportunity. Hang Ten's owner Yawar Irfan says the store has received a good response with reasonable sales of the discount offers. "Customers find same quality of items on almost half rates while sellers can dispose off their stock to get ready for new season," he says. It is not that only women and children's summer garments and shoes are being offered on discounted rates, there are many men's shops offering the same. "I always prefer buying shoes from sales offered at different times," says Muhammad Adil, who is trying to find a pair of shoes of his choice on 50 per cent discount from a famous shoes store at The Mall. He says he feels no hesitation in buying shoes on discounted rates but he does not feel easy buying clothes on discounted rates. "It gives me the feeling that I am buying something from Landa Bazar," he says. The shopkeepers have reasons to offer certain items on almost half the original price. Ghazanfar Ali of Milli Shoes in Anarkali says customers do wait for discount offers. "We offer discount on pairs not available in bulk; there is no use keeping them for too long," he says. "There are many shops which are offering upto 50 per cent discounts on summer as well as winter clothes and attract more customers as a result," says Muhammad Ali who runs a store of both men and women clothes at The Mall. He tells TNS, "We want to sell winter stock left last year before the new stocks of winter arrive in the market or we will have to sell these on cheaper rates." Muhammad Iqbal, owner of a garments store, says that second hand or rejected inventory is not marked, like in the West; therefore people are wary of poor quality of goods being sold on discount. He says that many leading stores in the city offer discount four times a year which is practically impossible if the goods are of good quality. "We cannot ignore profits even when we are offering discounts," he says.
RESPONSES
TO LAST WEEK'S TOP 10 1. I'm not Well 2.
My wife/mother ill
3. My Grandma Died 4. It was raining 5. I have to take my family out of station in an emergency 6. My car/bike is out of order 7. Parent teacher meeting at school 8. There is no light and can't shave, clothes not ironed 9. Got up late, no electricity whole night 10. Have to take my mother/father to Doc. To enlist by popular vote the 'top ten' for next week, send in your emails on 'Next week's question: Top ten 'Inundated roads in the city'. Please email at shehrtns@gmail.com |
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Young people have embraced anything that is rebellious. Graffiti, known to be
a rebellious form of art, has been taken up by youth all around the world.
Graffiti as we know it flourished in the west and has made its way through
this part of the world, where it was instantly taken up as a mode of
communication -- especially in a milieu that took pride in suppression of free
expression.
employed perfectly for a social awakening of the people. In this part of the
world graffiti is being used to relieve inner frustrations. The social
stagnation of society, weaker family bonds and sexual frustration within the
youth of this country has clouded the importance of graffiti in Pakistan. The
sort of graffiti which can be witnessed on the roads of Lahore purely depict
the short sightedness of the society as a whole and lack of morals among the
youth.
fast-paced world the advertisers are leaving no stone unturned to catch the
attention of the people. When a person drives out of his home he is bombarded
with advertisements through billboards and is forced to spend his hard earned
money on products he doesn't necessarily need. The artists say that let the
general public be the judge and decide who is defacing the property of the
public and who is not.
Mehmood, was kidnapped on July 23 this year and the quest to find him still
continues.
no idea why Iqbal was let off the hook considering all the evidence we had
accumulated about him," Arshad stated before proceeding. "Iqbal
should have been back on August 17 and the police kept assuring us that he
would be back -- but Iqbal never returned. And Riaz and Boota? Well they
haven't been caught yet. We had to undergo a lot of trouble regarding
registration of an FIR, reason being; the police told us they needed
sufficient evidence. Later on though Riaz and Boota's houses were raided,
both of them had locked up their houses and are probably in hiding. But our
question is, why didn't the police spring into action sooner? We lost out on
so many precious days! We know Tariq is alive and we will not rest till he's
found," said Arshad.
colourful banners advertise special discount on summer collections. These
banners offering 30 to 70 per cent discounts on readymade garments and shoes
can be observed in every market of the city. Both leading brands outlets and
independent retailers are offering a range of discounts to off-load their
summer stocks. Women and children's clothing shops at The Mall are
particularly crowded with middle and upper middle class women shoppers.
stunts, discount prices are almost the same as the original," says
another woman. She thinks that in fact shopkeepers offer substandard items.
"If shopkeepers are selling goods on half the original prices and are
still earning profits, then it means they earn more than 100 per cent
profit." This also indicates that there is no way to check prices and
shopkeepers are allowed to earn as much profit as they want.
