Paint me

Behind every banner and placard is a hand that lends life to words and mind which makes them easy to read, BABA UMAR meets one such person who has become a household name in political circles.
Talk of the city’s Miasuma market (the area christened by many as ‘the Gaza strip of Kashmir’) what comes in mind is the furious demonstrators, walking in the streets, waving banners, placards and shouting angrily.

Among the congested houses situated on the edge of the market and just past the Gaw Kadal is a shop of the city’s famous painter and banner designer ‘Do Bhai’—means Two Brothers (surprisingly the shop was established by two close friends!). ‘Do Bhai’ are famous for there banner designing. And political parties all through the Kashmir conflict have been employing their services via banners and placards to register protests and demonstrations.

“I am into this business from the last 30 years, and people particularly from this area have been using my banners to mark their complaints,” says Shakeel Ahmad, 42, one of the proprietors. Ahmad recalls the days of 90s when “armed resistance” was at its peak. He says that period was full of enthusiasm and obsession.

“It was a burning desire everywhere and people would seek “Do Bhai” for making banners on which pro-freedom slogans were imprinted.” Ahmad recollects. “Even I have made Pakistani flags too that were hoisted on roof tops and electric poles on 14 August.” Ask him about his reaction when his banners were clicked by scribes and telecast on several news channels. “I would feel ecstatic,” he says. “It’s wonderful to see your creation going on air. I would tell my parents about the banners written and designed by me when they watched any protests on the TV screens.”


While sharing his past and the political changes he had gone through, when the whole market was coloured with green colour and every day would begin with a mammoth protests. “Even bill boards and other advertisement objects were painted green. Painters and artists were having a good time those days,” he laughs. Currently Ahmed with his staff is busy in preparing a big advertisement banner. “It might take us four days to finish,” he says.
And what about his favourite line on any banner he so far designed.

“Hai haq hamara Azadi (Freedom is our right),” he says. He latter rolls out several banners with similar slogans penned on them which he has managed to retrieve after the protest ended. Ahmad calls his profession as good as any other job. He says through his work, he, in a way, augmented the mass view about liberation. “I contributed to Kashmir cause by means of my work. Even today I design banners for pro-independence political parties.”