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| Graffiti on a wall near Kolkata Station | কলকাতা রেল স্থানকের কাছে দেওয়াল লেখন |
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| This one on Strand Road reads, " Brigade Cholun" | স্ট্রান্ড রাস্তা |
Wall writing or graffiti in West Bengal is mainly done by all the political parties to promote their candidates and for other political issues like "call for strikes (bandhs/hartals)" etc. Wall writing is like a nightmare to the people of Bengal. All the political parties in Indian/West Bengal are insensitive towards this defacement of private and public property. Suppose you get your house painted with plush colors today, there are very good chances that tomorrow you'l see the sentence reading “এই চিনহে ভোট দিন” (Ei Chinhe Vote Din) Vote For this Symbol/Political Party on your newly painted wall. Moreover you realize that no one took your permission to do so- but you can’t complain either else you will be subjected to Harassment! This is the harsh reality in West Bengal today!
We can bring a change if we are united, a single person raising voice against this would get him into trouble but if all the residents decide to oppose it then they (Political Parties) are bound to stop this shit!
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| Another Dirty Wall! [courtesy Flickr photosream of toasterhead] |
Recently, I came across an article by Amartya Mukhopadhya in the Ananda Bazar Patrika news daily named:"দেওয়াল 'নিষ্কলঙ্ক' রাখার হ্যাট্রিক করলেন বাসিন্দারা" ("Residents successful in maintaining dignity of walls") in which shows how the residents of Orient Row, Talbagan lane in Park Circus area of Kolkata have united against the wall graffiti and have been successful in keeping their walls free from graffiti! They have won against the hooliganism of the political parties by clearly stating that “Wall writing in this area will not at all be tolerated; Whoever fails to follow this dictat (ফতোয়া) wil not be voted at all! “We, the common people of Bengal, do not like graffiti and we will not tolerate any attempt to deface our walls. We want our Bengal to be clean. Let’s send this bold message to All the Political Parties in Bengal- “If you want our votes - Stay Away From Our Walls!”
I don't want to totally omit it out of Kolkata...because now it's part of the city and its tradition, attraction. What we should do is, make some space specifically for Wall Writings. This may be kind of attractive by application of art. But we should stop owning the right to write where ever we want.
ReplyDelete@ Mouktik : I must admit, thats a great option. By having a place dedicated for "artistic" Political wall graffiti, it would attract tourist attention too and moreover general public will be saved from the torture of watching political graffities scribbled all around in the city.
ReplyDelete*This can be implemented in cities ONLY.
Grafitti gives a character to the city. However, having said that, I do not like political grafitti, especially when they are done without permission. Instead, we can have wall painting, some witty comments, etc... after taking permissions from the wall owner. An exception may be made, if the owner of the wall is not maintaining the wall in the first place.
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ReplyDeleteIt does gives a character to the city, but Political Graffiti surely doesnt. Wall paintings for social messages like "Plant Trees... Save Water... " etc are a lot better if done with art.
ReplyDeleteShould depend on what place. This is vandalism. www.imidesignstudio.com
ReplyDelete