"Wall Poster'-ity

I don’t know about you, but I love wall posters. In fact, I grew up loving them from the deep of my heart. Environment has a lot to do with this fascination. It was late 1960s and early 1970s before I packed up and left “Singara Chennai” (Beautiful Chennai) in search of bread and butter. My neighbor was a wall poster contractor: Kanakasabai. He had a crew that handled film and political posters. Remember, am talking about the Kollywood and the tinsel town that sent a matinee idol – late M G Ramachandran – to sit in the hot seat of Fort St. George to determine the fate of millions of Tamils in the state of Tamilnadu. Also remember it is the state that built a temple – yes, a temple - for Bollywood reject, but Kollywood hottie Khushboo.

Posters meant giant ones. Empty walls were a rarity because everything used to be plastered with posters: either about the newly released Tamil flick, or a Tamil drama (TV was more than a decade away!) to be staged at the local sabha (halls) or a political meeting or a religious discourse (kathakalakshebham) by eminent scholars at Venus Colony mostly. Or Tirupathi temple’s Celestial Umbrella passing through the Chennai which when happens used to draw a lot of conservative Tamil women mostly to pray and offer money into the hundi. All these need to be told to the potential audience well in audience. Well, that’s where posters used to play a crucial role. That’s what Kanasaby did for a living mostly.

Another reason for my poster fixation was honestly that is where I practiced my English learning. I used to translate Tamil movie names into English equivalent. For instance, “Eastbound Train” for the Bharati Raja blockbuster “Kizhakke Pogum Rail” (this was made in Hindi with Sunny Deol in “Saware Wali Gaddi” later); “Wealth or Family?” for “Panama Paasama?” – another Love king late Gemini Ganesan (Bollywood thespian Rekha’s father). “Truth will Triumph” for “Dharmam Thalai Kakkum”, an MGR flick. Well, the list is endless.

Besides the posters, I used to cherish the aroma of the paste itself. Cooked in hot tins on a kerbside brick-stacked impromptu ovens with dry wood as fuel. The poster boys (not the ones featured, but those who paste the posters on walls across the city) – mostly post midnight and before dawn. These lean boys, with stacks of posters bundled and kept in the rear seat holder and a tin of gluey paste hung on the handle bar, used to cycle round the neighbourhood – say a radius of 10 km maximum – plastering empty walls with their merchandise. My wonderment used to about the way they wear their long shorts and over and above them a tucked in multi-coloured lungi revealing their shorts. It is a solo act because between midnight and daybreak they have to complete their “assignment” and return home. But as they leave on their mission, their bonhomie is seen to be believed.

As I cycle around the next morning, I used to see the posters these chaps have carried out and make a mental connect with them. On occasions, buffalos or cows would eat up the posters, attracted by the wet paste. Well, there were also occasions when political posters would display a handful of cowdung on the face of the personality – as a mark of disrespect or cunningness attempted his rivals. This used to happen to leading male matinee idols posters as well: MGR fans would disfigure Sivaji Ganesan’s posters and vice versa. Or at times, just the face would be torn off giving a ghastly feel.

Passing through Mangalore and watching film posters and hoardings adorning the walls pushed me back to the jolly 1960s. Though I cannot read any of these posters, I still could relate to them. Any day, I would vote for these paper posters over neon signs atop buildings. They serve a purpose: to propagate an idea or promote a film or personality. Besides a whole lot of job opportunity for the unskilled and or uneducated brethren. If the walls get disfigured in the process, so be it. Maybe someone is trying to translate the Kannada film titles like I did four or five decades ago. Thank God, this form of propagation has not died!

Tailpiece

The wall poster culture has gone to the masses in the neighbouring Tamilnadu, it seems. Saw this poster at Namakkal recently. The gent shown in this wall poster has died a year ago and his friends are observing his first death anniversary. On enquiry with the local populace, learnt that he is an ordinary folk – not a politico.

On The Road, Once Again

Nothing excites me more than being on the Indian highways. For the third time over the past six months, I decided to hit the highways: from Delhi to Chennai. For a change, I decided to hop onto carriers hauling various items. If the November 2010 Chennai-Delhi trip was on an automotive carrier (Mercurio Pallia carrying Hyundai cars) and February 2011 Jamshedpur-Ludhiana journey was on a steel carrier (Credence Logistics hauling Tata Steel wire rods), this time I escorted – is that the right word! – Tata Ace LCVs (Delhi-Halol), Concrete pipes (Anand-Bombay), Mahindra Tractors (Bombay-Bangalore), plastic granules (Bangalore-Mangalore), Masala packaging material (Mangalore-Coimbatore) and assorted items (Namakkal to Chennai). Over 5,000 kilometres in the searing May heat spread over 23 days.

For a change, this time the interaction en route with various stakeholders: drivers community, transport agents, fleet owners, transport commissioners, director general of police and a memorable visit to Namakkal, the transport city of India. Last, but not the least was the visit the 25 acre Ashok Leyland Driver Training Institute and the upcoming Namakkal Transport College next door and interaction with brain behind these two outfits: one, already established player and another one – one man’s mission to pay back to the industry as a token of his gratitude to the transport industry that helped him etch a name.

I am definitely wiser after this trip. What did I learn this time? Primarily, the transport sector is a split group with the malady of groupism rampant and eating into achieving greater heights. Many organisations that claim to be representing the stakeholders’ interests are not truly run on professional lines. There is very little consensus on issues of general interest to the entire fraternity. Most office bearers of various outfits – without getting into names – are keen of beefing up their own personal empire.

Karnataka emerges as the most corrupt Road Transport Authority regime in the entire country. Perhaps Karnataka RTOs are in a mad race with their counterparts from Uttar Pradesh. Not a worthy race. I was wrong to assume that women RTOs were in a different league: more honest and law abiding. This assumption was proved wrong during my sojourn through Bangalore-Mangalore highway. Sad, but it is a reality. Meeting with Transport Commissioner Sham Bhatt of Karnataka and Director General & Inspector General of Police Dr S T Ramesh in Bangalore showed that they are helpless for a variety of reasons. Submission of written complaint and regular SMSes to both of them of what I was going through at every single RTO interaction, I know, was like a trying to kill the Frankenstein with a sling and arrow.

The visit to Devaraj Urs Truck Terminal, managed by the Karnataka State Government, taught me one thing: how not to run an essential utility like this. The concept was great, but implementation wass pathetic. The Yashwantpur facility is an ideal location, but badly managed. The huge sprawling facility could have been turned into a decent Transport Nagar and run on more profitable lines because Bangalore a critical point for both north and south bound heavy commercial vehicles.

One redeeming factor was what constant vigilance can bring about. Praveen Shetty, Chairman of Road Safety Committee of Kanara Chamber of Commerce & Industry, has mounted a major onslaught against National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) over the poor construction of New Mangalore Port Approach Road (37 km stretch).


(Photo: Praveen Shetty with his youngest daughter Aasthana at breakfast table in Mangalore)

Under the Shetty-mounted offensive, NHAI is carrying out corrective measures under the supervision of Sai Consultants which in turn is supervising Ircon’s actual work on the ground. Things are changing for the better in Mangalore. Maybe not at the pace at which Shetty wants this to be done. Praveen, carry on the good work!

A word about NHAI. Notwithstanding the carping criticism from all and sundry, NHAI project directors are faced with a plethora of challenges: The top three spoilers are viz., land acquisition, shifting of utility from the proposed carriageway and last but not the least is the feeling of trees. Local politicians play a big role. It was not unusual to hear about complaints that the District Commissioners or District Collectors simply refuse to listen to the Chief Secretary of the State on highway expansion issues! Development does not come easily. There has to be some sacrifices on all sides.

One last thing. A majority of drivers and fleet owners unhesitatingly say that they are not averse to paying toll taxes to the authorities because they concede that toll roads have made a positive contribution to their fleet movement. Yes, they do complain of periodic hikes at various poll booths. Some mechanism has to be set in motion. But their major concern is the looting and extortion unleashed by the authorities in the form of RTOs, checkpost officials and commercial tax bureaucrats. Tackling or taming these unscrupulous elements who are acting against the interests of the states in which they operate ought to be a priority. Therefore, a prayer to AIMTC: fight corruption on highways which is going unchecked. One day it will devour the economy. Toll charges can be settled amicably by sitting across the table. That is to say, focus on genuine, not fake, issues.

NOTE: This piece appeared in June 2011 issue of SAARC Journal of Transport