The colours of karachi tram in Melbourne.
The ‘Karachi - Melbourne’ tram
A little bit of Pakistan has come to Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games.
The southern Australian city of Melbourne has taken on a Pakistani flavour for the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
One of the city’s trams has been decorated by a Pakistani team of ‘chamak patti’ vehicle decorators who have tried to recreate the experience of travelling on the W-11 route in Karachi.
Good spirits
Our reporter, Glen Bartholomew, says the tram is like a magic bus from the old days, with lights, music playing, little beads hanging from the roof and colour all over the walls, both inside and out.
The tram is in the spirit of the legendary mini-buses that travel along Pakistan’s Karachi route, known as the W-11.
These buses are vividly decorated with brightly-coloured collages, stainless steel panels and flashing lights to keep good spirits on the journey.
Traditional music is also played inside the vehicle.
Melbourne’s ‘W-11 Karachi - Melbourne’ tram is celebrated in a similar way, but with a touch of Australia.
Mick Douglas, head of Cultural Transport at Melbourne’s RMIT University, says the decorators have worked in collages of self-adhesive vinyl film that is highly reflective.
“If you look closely at these images of birds, peacocks, cockatoos - an Australian bird there - fish, you’ll feel that there is about seven layers of sticky vinyl there, all cut by hand,” he says.
Soundtrack to Pakistan
Melbourne’s special tram will travel around city’s central business district for the duration of the Games and is free of charge for passengers.
Music played on board is identical to that enjoyed by passengers travelling on the W-11 mini buses in Karachi.
In fact, the soundtrack is one of the more important aspects of the journey, according to one of the tram’s chief designers, Nusrat Iqbal, who believes music is “the secret of the health of a man.”
The project is a joint effort between Melbourne’s RMIT University and a group of Karachi creatives