It’s a sign

Walk around the many lanes of what used to be Bombayrsquos Fort St George and yoursquoll find a piece of history in every cranny Sometimes itrsquos upfront in bold typeSignage can say a lot about a city its history and people At our first stop on the Fort Bazaar Type Walk we stand outside an English night school in Bohra Bazaar and look up at the sign board It reads in Kannada Hindi and English A poster on the wall is in English Hindi Marathi and Gujarati This indicates that these were the languages of the bazaar spoken by migrant workersThatrsquos our first lesson on the walk Signs speak of a cityrsquos culture and historyFew steps away an Udupi welcomes patrons with a large sign that says ldquoSouth Indianrdquo in English but reads ldquoAndhra Bojanalayamrdquo in Telugu giving away which statersquos specialities one can expect ldquoTo communicaterdquo says a fellow walker when custom type designer Tanya George who conducts the walk asks us the purpose of signs Signboards and signs can tell you many things Name what the place sells the address the audience and often the correct pronunciation too For instance how would you read ldquoMale Pan Shoprdquo An additional signboard in Devanagari tells us itrsquos ldquomaalayrdquoSignboards and signs can tell you many things Name what the place sells the address the audience and often the correct pronunciation too PIC COURTESYTANYA GEORGEAdding a Marathi signboard has been a mandate in the city for years and Tanya points out how bilingual signboards make navigation easier for nonEnglish readers Thatrsquos why itrsquos disheartening to see French luxury brand Hermes showroomrsquos Devanagari signage read ldquohairmesrdquo instead of ldquoairmesrdquoOn the way to the RBI headquarters from Bohra Bazaar we stop near the Maneckji Seth Agiary Parsi Mandir to look at Cuneiform an ancient Mesopotamian and Persian script which is one of the earliest forms of writing The inscription was brought to Mumbai from Iran and as Tanya reads the translation we learn that it was originally from a tablet Cuneiform was written on clayMumbairsquos typography has several lessons Throughout the walk Tanya points out grammatical errors incorrect Hindi and Marathi matras stylised fonts shadow signs and even ligaturendasha set of two or more characters that are designed to look harmonious We spot this on the plaque outside St Thomasrsquo Cathedral where the ldquoHrdquo and ldquoErdquo in the ldquoCathedralrdquo share a strokeOther lessons include the importance of typography displayed by art deco buildings The architectural lettering often features the name of the building but Tanya says ldquoIt is a great way to protect your legacyrdquoOur last stops include two iconic buildings the Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue and Rhythm House in Kala Ghoda Both of which not only have history but also an iconic colour the blue of the synagogue and are a landmark the curved corner of Rhythm House but also have noteworthy lettering A quote in Hebrew at the synagoguersquos gateway welcomes worshipers And which trueblue Mumbaikar wouldnrsquot recognise how each alphabet of the Rhythm House is packed a separate red boxWHAT Fort Bazaar Type Walk by Tanya GeorgeWHERE Bohra Bazaar FortWHEN 730 to 930 AM Saturday June 25PRICE Rs 850