Owais Mughal
Many of you may have already seen this photo. It appears in today’s Dawn and shows a man over machine over animal, riding down a Lahore road. Can you suggest an interesting title for the picture?
I noted the following intriguing points that may help in formulating the best title. I am sure you can point out more.
- Note how the motorcycle rider to the right is swerving to pass this combo ride.
- Looks like the loaders have tried to be a little considerate to other traffic (but not a whole lot) as the car body seems to be loaded at an angle on the donkey-cart. Is it done to give room to other traffic to pass?
- The car to the left seems to be the working model of the same car whose dead body is being transported on the donkey-cart.
- Note the expression on donkey’s face. He seems to care less for the photo and is walking head down thinking about the car on his back; which is obviously higher than him in social status; in these poetic terms:
zameeN pe paaoN nakhuwwat se nahiN rakhte pari-pekar
ye goya is makaaN ki doosri manzil meiN rehtay haiN[Fairy like people are too proud to walk on earth
It is as if they live on the second floor all their life]
In Urdu exams whenever there was a question about explaining a poem or a verse, we always used to write a similar verse (mumaasil sher) from our memory to impress the examiner. To impress you guys, I’ve found a ‘mumaasil’ photo which also seemed to be taken in Lahore. I guessed it from the rickshaw’s license plate alphabets. Is anybody impressed :)
Ok here is a title that comes to my mind for both of these photos:
baar-e-alam uThaaya, rang-e-nishat dekha
aaye nahiN haiN yooN hi andaz be-hissi ke
I suggest “Insaan aur Gadha”. It was one of famous movie of late Rangeela too.
Rethinking the Technological Progress………..!
Chalti ka naam gada gari
“Nuvaan, noou din, purana soo din” = “New nine days, old 100 days”. or you may say “Old is gold”.
The car: “After all these years, finally someone who appreciates me for what’s inside”. Very resourceful.
…and for the portuguese speakers, “Jeitinho Paquistao”
Minutes before I saw this post, i caught the following design project on exactly the same thing at Parson’s The New School for Design:
http://www.parsons.newschool.edu/departments/portf olio.aspx?deptid=72&ptype=2
(go to “Vaca Frita”–the 4th photo at the bottom of the page)