Have you every given a thought to all the wall posters seen on every wall in our cities. I am talking about India..and all those who have been to India. The walls built around homes, hospitals, around anything which needs a boundary defined and is in public sphere is plastered with posters.
Posters of recent films released and to be released, political messages, devotional messages, various political posters, discount sales, house for sale and rent, forthcoming festivals in temples, feasts in churches, vote request for reality show participants, visits by socio-religious leaders and what not!!!! Anything and everything is plastered on walls....it is at times intimidating to see aging actors in various expressions...it is also distracting to see the scantly-clad lead actress' smooching.
But must comment that the quality of the posters has improved from normal screen printing to high-quality digital printing..the design and creativity is of much better standard. The angry Aamir in Ghajini looks so macho with all effects on the poster compared to the simple poster of Amitabh in Zanjeer!
Even a small temple in your by lane comes with a full-blown poster of the main deity, with the header of the forthcoming festival or about the temple renovation, asking for the devotees to contribute etc. Not to mention when it comes to election times be it municipal or Lok Sabha elections made up faces with wrinkle free dhotis and shirts stand out as cut outs!!! At times, such cut outs/hoarding/poster change your mind and cast votes for the opposing candidate...
All said, have you spared how much paper is being used for the colourful plastering? From where are the sponsors of such expensive publicity getting so much of paper? Why is the government not taking steps to control the use of posters? Did we talk of conservation of forests the other day in one of the many 'National Seminar on Conservation of Forest and Natural Energy' ? Are we talking of minimal use of paper for a greener tomorrow? Where is the resolution to use less of paper? Where are the corporates and why are they not making it a CSR initiative to create awareness against use of so many posters and how much paper consumption is this publicity mechanism taking? And what happens to these posters when it gets outdated? They are either torn down by the next set of poster-stickers, goats relish on the poster-feast, gets washed down in the next rain or simply fade away!!! It is CRIMINAL...the use of precious forests to churn out paper and be used for posters on walls....(But who is listening or cares for this extravaganza at the regulatory level?)
Let me sign off and be prepared to watch the kaleidoscope of walls as I travel to office tomorrow..the same walls but tomorrow there could be another blanket of posters on the ones i saw today! Maybe the earth under India would weigh less had we practised poster-less walls. Does anybody know the history of sticking posters on walls? Did this exist as some other form during the Mughal times, during British Raj and during our grandparents times?
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