The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Graffiti, public property and psychology

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 10, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Graffiti, public property and psychology

Swahilya

Defacing public property, etching on trees reflection of stress: psychologists

— Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

STRESS SYNDROME? Such etching on trees is rampant across the country. A tree on Anna University campus.

Chennai: “God is one. Believe in God.” The white cement railings on the new Royapuram Bridge proclaim emphatically in big charcoal letters in Tamil. “I love Sarada,” the green iron chairs in the renovated Haddows Road Park in Nungambakkam proclaim.

Psychologists say the defacing of public property and etching on trees is a reflection of stress in society.

Two types

Psychiatrist Vijay Nagaswami says there are two types of graffiti writers. “One kind indulges in vulgarity, profanity and writing hate statements on walls, on trees and in public property. They use the space to express their anger.”

The other kind is those who write love messages, and draw hearts to publicly demonstrate their feelings and “leave their footprints on the sands of time.” Either way it results in defacing of public property and as a nation “we don’t really respect our public places,” he said.

Psychiatrist Anand Pratap says that the scribbling and etching is born out of personality disorders in children who may have had difficult childhoods.

“Such children grow up into anti-social personalities and they are not bothered about rules and regulations and express their depression by scribbling or etching in public places,” he says. Some also learn from their peers to scribble with no aim or gain in public places.

The doctors’ solution for such a malaise is to provide a constructive outlet for children and young adults to channelise their energies with cricket, football and other sports or music, giving a positive expression to creativity.

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