When signboards steal the show!

When signboards steal the show!

The past fortnight has been heavy on the nation: the horrific terrorist attack in Pahalgam and the tense counter-operations that followed. Most of us were not on the frontlines, but our hearts were. The solidarity was silent yet strong; the anxiety was unmistakably real. What if … the worry nagged our minds.

In moments like these, I often find myself wondering: how can I contribute, in my own small way, to the larger cause of the nation? After much mental gymnastics, I returned to the old, personal belief that perhaps, I can bring a smile to those around me.

And what if those smiles come from a common feature, i.e., signboards: well-meaning but often misplaced, sometimes promising grand solutions to life’s problems, and yet unintentionally hilarious. Amidst the time of gravity, they bring to us a moment of levity.

The unintentional cross over that he did not ask for. Move over pasta!

The southern state of Kerala has the highest literacy rate, above 95 %, in the country. Are the animals there also literate? Anyone has an idea what kind of cars these pachyderms travel in?

Do you think Lord Shiva has chosen to work in this hospital, and his vehicles are parked outside? Can you muster up the courage to point out to him that washing and cleaning are part of vehicle-maintenance?

You dare not ask him his name.  Only this local legend can handle these roads.

The sign and the infrastructure finally agree. Don’t say later that the authorities did not warn you, or did the pole read the sign?

In spite of the massive efforts of the Swachha Bharat Mission (Clean India Mission), and countless NGOs preaching about cleanliness at public places, some men still treat walls like personal urinals. As a mere citizen, I have only armchair remedies as solution, but hats off to the pee-police who catch the culprits in the act. 

The horrified look on the face of the woman in the Malyalam film poster (top photo) brings the ad alive!

Gods came down from heaven… just to guard a wall from your bladder!

Will this sign stop generations of public commitment of men by birth, animals by bladders?

Meanwhile, a urologist wasted no time turning the Prime Minister’s statement into a golden opportunity, turning foreign policy matter into a ‘pee’ issue. Perhaps when the PM spoke about ‘borders’, this one heard ‘bladders’.

While we are talking of cleansing the body of  waste, as also clinics, these photos definitely deliver the message, loud and clear. But here’s my advice: take this bold, hilarious advertisement for a Chennai colorectal and gut wellness clinic literally. Do not book an appointment for a cure for the other, walking, talking human kind of a**holes you deal with daily. Sorry, that problem is all yours to handle!

                                                                                                    - Anupama S Mani