A Dying 'Art' Trade

Not a lot of ‘us people’ notice things that occur around them in their daily lives. When I say ‘us people’, I mean all of us working in Corporate India. Not that I am trying to get philosophical on you guys. Its just that there are so many things we take for granted that every once in a while something catches your eye and brings you back to the ground realities of the simple life.

Today while driving back from a meeting, I got caught up in a traffic jam on Theatre Road. Not such an unusual occurrence in most of our lives. But strangely while waiting, I looked out of the car window and saw a man sitting on his hunches inside his shop adjusting what seemed to be a board on some kind of stand. I kept observing him wondering what he was trying to do, till he finally managed to get it in the right position and then lifted a brush voila came a letter that, from this distance looked like a ‘C’ to me. Only then did I notice the board in its entirety. It was a signboard and the rest of the shop had all sorts of signboards all over. The gentleman sitting in front of him seemed to be the customer for whom the board was being painted. Yes I did say painted.

In this day and age if we wanted some thing of the sort done, we’d probably get digital printing or a neon signage or a glow signboard. Who in the world puts up a hand painted signboard outside his establishment? Well a lot of people it seems who make up most of the population who haven’t signed up for the stressful, fast-paced life of Corporate India.