Over the past year, I’ve spent about 600 hours on the roads of Namma Bengaluru!! On a two-wheeler, riding, stretching, watching, waiting… Sometimes singing happily, sometimes irritated. Of the many quirks that I’ve noticed on the road, my favourite has been- Stickers! Especially on auto-rickshaws and cabs. Most of them were in our local language- Kannada. They varied from a few words of wisdom to four-line rhyming poetry. I’ve had fun reading these lines, having a private laugh in my head/reflecting on them/feeling sad/bad/appreciative of the way words had been weaved
The commonest emotion I’ve seen these lines express is: GRATITUDE! It’s heartening to see scores of people put up stickers which read “Tande tayiya ashirwada”. This translates to “with blessings from mom and dad”. Some are grateful to their ‘enemies’! “Shatrugala ashirwada”; I found this funny, somehow.
There’s a constant wave of gratitude and love for the mother-figure. “Mother’s love is priceless and non-changing”, “Mother is god” and so on. There was one rhyming two-line poem which read “Hatthu devarannu pujiso munche, Hettha tayiyannu pujisu” (Before you set out to pray to ten gods, pray to the one who gave birth to you). “God can’t be seen. But mom can be seen. Once you’ve seen mom, isn’t it the same as seeing God?”. Deep indeed, don’t you think?!
A common sticker is the orange picture of Hanuman (Hindu God), with a grim serious expression. Is it anger, I wonder? There was some uproar/controversy regarding this sticker. But let’s not go there. To me, it portrays devotion mixed with a simmering anger of unknown origin. Anyway, one thing is for sure, that it is very popular.
Is heartbreak romantic? Many cabs/auto rickshaws in Namma Bengaluru have chosen to romanticize it! And trust me, according to these lines, it’s usually the girl who’s doing the damage. The lines depict distrust and doubt! They question the love of a girl and advice the reader to not fall into traps!! These are pretty common and being the girl that I am, it disturbs me. I want to tell them, “Hey it’s not your gender, but the kind of person you are that matters!”. Anyway, I’m sure this retort of mine will not reach their ears (Considering the forum I’ve chosen to write!). One particularly weird one read thus: “Maradalli hannu eshte ettira iddaru, gili paalu. Hudugi eshte sundara iddaru, Mannu paalu. Gelati ecchara” (However high the fruit hangs on the tree; it belongs to the parrot. However pretty the girl is, she will finally become dust. Friend (Female), Beware!)
There are some lines which advocate moral values, being good and honest. There are some which contradict these. Birds, hearts and movie stars are other common stickers that accompany these words!
In all, stickers stuck on rickshaws and cabs are a source of entertainment on the road. It’s as if you’re feeling the pulse of the driver-community. They’ve made me think and reflect, and thus kept me occupied in the slow-moving traffic of Bengaluru. Next time you’re in this wonderful city, and have a person who can read Kannada for company; watch out for those fascinating quotes!!