This year has been a reminder to tend to the little spaces on the internet I call my own with more care, starting with https://indiastreetlettering.com/.
I set up this website years ago to collect photographs I take of street lettering around the country, but I’ve been terrible at keeping it up-to-date. That changes now. And if I can keep myself motivated, I’ll share a picture from it here every week 🤞🏼
Nastaliq, Devanagari and Latin come together on this sign for a traditional medicine centre, where space is expertly carved out for each script without cramping their styles.
One of the things I miss about living in Bangalore is the old neon signs on MG Road, many decrepit now. This one is a favourite: from the swash of the “V” to pairing the narrow script with the squarish sans, and the ampersand to the subtly similar “k” in both styles.
An unexpected bit of Cyrillic in the heart of Delhi on this bilingual plaque marking the statue of Russian poet, Aleksandr Pushkin. Over the years, the bloated Devanagari श in this sign has gone from pet peeve to something I have a soft spot for.
This hand-painted sign is so clever to use the eyes usually associated with the goddess Kali to create the chandra bindu in the word माँ (Hindi for mother). The flourishes are not a bad touch either.
On every trip to Ahmedabad, I am struck by how easily the Gujarati script is moulded into to geometric forms, sometimes abstract enough to stump me and my novice reading skills. Last time around, I noticed this sign for a cycle repair shop that I loved: its compact shapes, gently curved strokes and undulating baseline.
Go for the birds, stay for the hand-painted letters! If I was responsible for getting people to Okhla Bird Sanctuary, that’s what I’d be telling them.
Take this welcome sign for instance, well-intentioned but lovingly crooked. The ध in the द्ध conjunct is beyond tiny and my favourite bit: the shrike has pushed the ै matra off the stem in the है.
These two signs for the same building are in gold, on ground-level, and most importantly, completely and utterly dismissive of visually matching Devanagari and Latin scripts. I wrote a little bit about them in my newsletter https://mailchi.mp/05e0957f4a95/typographic-eye3-cp-type-tour a few months ago.
When I visited Chennai five years ago, I spent a morning photographing signs for hardware stores in George Town. Among them was this one for Quality Machine Tools, which featured the most delicious, high-contrast Tamil lettering.
Gotta love the sign for a century and a half old temple, which features three scripts — Devanagari, Latin and Nastaliq — and a suggestion, perhaps, of a more syncretic time.
I don’t think I recall the word “pandit” being abbreviated with a raised “T” ever before.
I am always drawn to signs that turn up on homes, like this one warning visitors and burglars of the resident canine. The illustration of the agitated dog and the flamboyant “W” are such nice touches.
I’ve been fascinated with the Modi Flour Mills building and the letters on its façade for as long as I can remember. Growing up, it was the location for many a detective story I concocted.
I finally got some images of its signs last week. Must go back for more on a sunnier day, but until then, please enjoy these larger than life wood letters in Devanagari and Latin — pigeons for scale 🤭
Hidden in an alley off MG Road is this beautiful sign. It has sent me down a rabbit hole trying to learn more about Yusuf Sait, who was I believe was the royal tailor to the erstwhile Maharaja of Mysuru.
This mural celebrating Rabindranath Tagore on the wall of the Bengalee Association’s building in Bangalore is a treat, especially for its cursive Bangla letterforms.
When in Haridwar earlier this year, I photographed a collection of signs that all featured the conjunct श्र (as part of the word श्री) in an effort to document the myriad ways in which sign makers interpreted the same shape in different styles and materials. These and other signs feature in my latest newsletter https://mailchi.mp/matratype/typographic-eye-10-karthik-malli-interview about script standardisation.
I am all for this marriage of Mirza Ghalib with art deco in the sign for a cultural institute in Delhi that celebrates the famed poet’s work and legacy.
Signs on government buildings are usually rather insipid, and so I was pleasantly surprised to see this delightful sign for Bapu Bhawan बापू भवन on the state secretariat in Lucknow.
I love its complete lack of curves and large open knots: there is something so rigid yet playful about it.
I had long wanted to go see this sign for Tipografia Sadananda in Panjim, and I finally made it last year.
It is a beautiful design, whether you look at the dots on the “i”, or the sinuous, headline-less Devanagari.
The shop was closed when I visited, but a Government Gazette from 1967 tells me that it had been around in the early 60s, with proprietors Dattaram and Vinaeca Vamon Naik.