“Disasterous Lawn Billboard Flood & The Transport Strike” (Safar Badnaamah, Season 2, Episode 1)
It’s been a long time since my last travelogue update; however, things are pretty interesting around the city to strike me into hitting the keyboard yet again.
These days, Karachi is going through it’s phase of natural disaster … yes! The lawn billboard flood overwhelming OOH advertising to the extent of making one feel nauseous. Unfortunately, all brands decided to spam the roads all at once, you can drag spam emails in a spam folder but what to do about these here, there and everywhere lawn billboards? This ‘in the face’ fatigue is quite sufficient to disgust the potential customer or rather confuse her or even ‘him’. Perhaps one day there will be a job opening of an ‘Advertising Exorcist’ for the purpose of keeping roads free from the unanimous clutter.
Indian models are so much in demand these days that it seems Pakistani models have abandoned their occupation for the practice of purda system or maybe some of them gave up with their bulimia. It’s strange how some of the unknown or rather comparatively less renowned brands have afforded these Indian models, say for example, Crescent Lawn which I am quite oblivious of myself but then my knowledge of such brands is hopeless as a result of it falling prey to ignorance and beyond my interest level. Ms. Sen endorses this particular brand right adjacent to the Tariq Road cemetery, oh the ghosts would be so proud of her after feeling purple with Lux’s purple soap billboard a few days back.
Right opposite to Regent plaza are two billboards of Firdous Lawn, this time they decided to go for Deepika and Shaista, though the former personality might be used for an upward stretch to the brand, the other one looks more like a downward stretch to cater to two unique sets of target audiences … Aww!!! Junaid Jamshed seemed to have Shariah compliant billboards unlike the others but the profit margin rip off deal seems non Shariah compliant at the same time … huh? Extremism …
Everyday while going for my classes I feel sick with this lawn advertisement bombardment especially when Dou Talwar is completely haunted by them all. A few days back after their exhibition Asim Jofa billboards decided to shout a big ‘Thank You!’ in black background … Amidst this chaos and frenzy, may God have mercy on the soul of our lawn flood affected Karachi. Ameen!
Thursday marked the commencement of a transportation strike and thanks to it I got to travel in a joyride, rickshaw after a long time. Knowing that I won’t get my bus that particular day I thought whether or not to miss the class but despite those thoughts I couldn’t think of missing my class, it was a Marketing class, had it been HR or Finance I would have had peaceful intentions of staying at home. Finally I got hold of my joy ride … so tips for travelling alone in a rickshaw:
Tip 1: Look for a Pathan driver …
Tip 2: Look for a Pathan driver …
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Tip 3: Only look for a Pathan driver!!!
However, this particular driver was chewing betel leaf with his constant filth contribution to the society at regular intervals with residue that he spat on the road, he seemed to be a case of identity crises when Pathan drivers usually consume Niswar, unbranded usually with a stench so strong that would make you sick.
While enjoying the jumping jack joy ride, I happened to have asked him about the situation of the strike the next day and he didn’t stop after that. What impressed me was his awareness about current affairs as he seemed to be educated to an extent … from that moment until I reached SZABIST he kept on enlightening me about what he had been reading in the newspaper and the current affairs! These people are the real voters in Pakistan, they know a lot!
“Zardari hasn’t even left clothes on people anymore”, he said, “Unfortunately in our country the cheapest thing is death and human beings!” he scoffed. “We buy flour every week, it started off with Rs. 1,200 but the price increases by Rs. 50 on a weekly basis … these strikes would only be successful if the entire nation is supportive, not driving buses won’t help much.”
Then he upgraded my knowledge about how China had offered us help with the coal powered electricity generation and how much natural resources we have to be self sufficient but in vain. According to him he went to his village in Swat after fifteen years, there used to be a coal reserve which is still there but hasn’t been put to use. That day it there was a lot more he taught me before my own teacher could teach me in the class and thanks to him I finally made it to my Marketing class that I did not want to miss. Often, people face difficulty guiding rickshaw drivers about SZABIST but he knew it as a university inside … something that most do not know about.
The funny part that I have observed is that some students when coming to school through rickshaws prefer to get off a long distance away from the gate so that no one sees them travelling in this vehicle … It makes me wonder why they feel ashamed of being spotted in such a wonderful joy ride that has so much of fun to offer … it’s better than a public bus but then again there is no point of even travelling in a public bus, as long as you get to complete your studies any mode of transportation is a blessing so is your education! Ask the worth of education from a person who is not able to continue with it! Ask the worth of travelling in a public transport from the person who feels crippled due to a transportation strike!
Today was the continuation of the same strike, thanks to the Midterm I got to catch a rickshaw again1 Wow I loved the ride again. However, the stupid terrorist, idiotic group, MQM had blocked the street around Dou Talwar for their idiot tantrum cry baby crapping get together! The nation is literally sick of their BULL S**T! They block ways and rob people!
