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Plastered with eyesore

Sree Gururaja is appalled by the overload of obscenity used to impose on us a culture we are made to want

SAYING NO Sree Gururaja: `Can we not unflinchingly shun global marketing gimmicks?'

Do we need to accept obscenity?

Don't take me wrong; I'm not a prude nor a conservative person. On returning to Bangalore after 30 years, I am confronted with accepting the good, the bad and the ugly side of the transformation it has undergone from being a quiet pensioner's paradise to a bustling metropolis.

With the sparkling malls overtaking the gardens as meeting places for the young and old, the city has been transformed into one big market. The clothing sector is being deluged by goods a la Bollywood, characterised by loud garish vulgarity competing with the flood of international brands — both breaching the ethnic and cultural realms of dress and demeanour. Marketing has no deemed limits.

Look around you and you'll understand my angst. Plastered all over the city's landscape and prominent in magazines and newspapers are pictures of anorexic, semi-nude, non-Indian adolescents exposing their ribs, skinny abdomens and pelvic bones cajoling the young to buy "loops'" of a certain colour adorning jeans and jackets, and various branded cell phones, shoes and of course, undergarments. It could be that their global campaigns dictate such images with indifference to the local context.

They have replaced the cinema posters of yesteryears and introduced images that we do not need . The last straw is desi websites taking pride in announcing that these images can be downloaded on your screens.

Should we calmly accept this phenomenon as a given and a consequence of globalisation? Surely we are neither so lacking nor desperate to be subjected to what's considered popular and beautiful elsewhere. Is it not possible to say `No' to images that, in my opinion, do not dignify the person wearing the brand?

Can we not unflinchingly shun global marketing gimmicks desperate to capture the eye of passers-by or the distracted motorist? One wonders whether the sales of these brands are indeed artificially inflated by the obscenity they portray.

Is it possible that the name of the game is not intellectual captivation but subliminal coercion to become what you may not want to be, subtly getting sucked into believing that's the ultimate identity? Let's begin to take notice and object to images that are distasteful, unnecessary and detrimental. We must stand up for our right of dignity and decorum as concerned citizens, conscious customers and discerning residents of Namma Bengaluru.

Do you have anything to say? About the state of the world, the city, your angst? Pen it stylishly and we will publish it. Don't forget to attach your photograph. Mail your piece to bangaloremetro@thehindu.co.in or MetroPlus, The Hindu, 19 & 21, Bhagwan Mahaveer Road (Infantry Road), Bangalore 560 001.

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