Gone are the days when you could serenade the Islamabad skyline no holds barred. Even on the highway that peaceful, easy feeling has given up to a jangle of breeding-by-the-minute streamers, billboards, mopies and whatnot. These are the rankling times of advertisement ad-nauseum, where every khamba, chowk, junction, signal, overhead bridge and even the trees have something to sell.
Meet FSB from the PM's office. Vowing to turn Islamabad into an ideal metropolis, he, too, is battling for ad-space alongside Bollywood actresses and, pretty much, holding sway in the visual junkyard that is the highway. I bet he already is the most popular man in town, second only to this guy.
Nowhere in the world is public property so extensively bought and sold. We are close to a point where advertisement would take flight from aesthetic premise, to become a matter of physical (heart wrenching) and psychological harm to the onlookers.
Authorities responsible for maintenance and beautification of the roads, boulevards and avenues of Islamabad are urged to limit advertising to commercial zones, to help refine and restore the serenity Islamabad was once known for. We, as citizens, have a spectacular history of despising our country's assets. Islamabad is not just a pretty blue town. It's not just our capital, or the cleanest city in the country, with great weather and beautiful sunsets. It is not just a town full of fancy little cafes. Islamabad has enough reasons to be celebrated. And it is time we started taking pride in what we have, if not in who we are.
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