KATHMANDU, JANUARY 23
Imagine, you have at least one visitor at your home for 365 days. What if each one of them carved their names or wrote something or drew a heart symbol on the walls, corridor and staircase? Would you be happy? Seeing such scribbles definitely disappoints and disgusts anyone who loves and respects the beauty of our built environment and the history associated with it. We feel angry and frustrated when someone dirties the surroundings of our home because these structures are close to our hearts and we care about our property.
But why don't you care about our public buildings and historical monuments in the same way? Aren't they a part of us, our property and identity as well? The habit of writing on the building surfaces is already visually unpleasant. Many public buildings, hospitals, historical monuments and public places have inscribed on their walls names of couples, political slogans, advertisements, or even offensive graffiti, which are an eyesore. Although such practice was said to be a norm a few years ago, I'd still like to think that writing on building structures, especially historical monuments, is disrespectful to both the place you're in and the people around you. Whether this is just a passing fad or a permanent trend, such acts will surely deface the structures and the surroundings. Doing such thing indicates that you do not value your country's heritage or artefacts. It shows that we lack respect and admiration for our country and don't care about protecting these public structures.
However, new technology has brought some changes in this behaviour to some extent.
People these days take selfies and do a lot more to remember their journey and share them on social networking sites. People do this to show that they have been there.
There are numerous individuals, like me, for whom scribbling in public places is unpleasant, unacceptable and antisocial.
It is a filthy habit that can deface public property and architectural structures. Unfortunately, scribbling is a means of showing off in today's socalled 'let-them-all-know' society.
And this is rampant not only in Kathmandu but in nearly every urban area across the country. So how can one really eliminate such practice when it's already habitually normal? One of the major reasons why people harm public infrastructure is because they see no obligation to preserve public property.
And, there's nothing that can stop them except our own conscience, and all we can do is to help each other awaken our own conscience.
Simply possessing monuments is not enough. Preserving them should be a priority as well. No law, no rule, no force can save our monuments, only self-realisation can.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 24, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
