Wajid Ali and his fellow craftsmen possess skill sets that are a rarity in Pakistan.
When the call for help came from a distant continent they worked tirelessly for months. Now the men were in Australia. As they stood outside a workshop in the suburb of Preston in Melbourne, scepticism took over. They were content with the progress made but weren’t sure about the results, for they had never tried, let alone achieved such a feat.
They were expected to do the impossible; to bring something back from the dead.
Resting in the workshop was an old, somewhat rusty, metal structure that had been running on Melbourne tracks since 1978. After 28 years of serving commuters, the Z Class Tram No 81 was due to retire in 2006, and Mr Ali was tasked with instilling life back in it.
It was the same year that Melbourne was to host the Commonwealth Games for the first time and these artists were responsible to add a “Pakistani touch” to the seemingly lifeless tram.
Vehicle decorators who worked in the Preston workshop Source: SBS Urdu
“Since this tram was about to retire, its condition to us it looked like a dead body,” recalls Mr Ali..
Why Karachi W11 Design?
The organisers of the Games had tasked a Melbourne academic, Mick Douglas, to develop a project with artisans of current and former Commonwealth nations as part of the cultural festival held in 2006.
Mr Douglas got in touch with his contact in Pakistan, Ms Duriya Kazi, Head of Department of Visual Studies at the University of Karachi to discuss the project.
Ms Kazi then referred Mr Douglas to Mr Ali and Chamak Patti Wala’s who are specialised vehicle decorators.
W11 is the most popular bus in Karachi in terms of decoration. It is like a museum on wheels
Mr Ali had completed his thesis on the life of a truck driver. This gave him the necessary insight and passion to take on such a project.
He invited Mr Douglas to travel on the W11 minibus route in Karachi, which brought him a new perspective to Pakistani truck art.
“I had never come across this level of excited investment in the decoration of a vehicle as the W11 mini-bus,” recalls Mr Douglas.
Karachi W11 Mini Bus Source: SBS Urdu
"It seemed to me to be timely to invite these decorators to decorate a Melbourne tram in a similar fashion as the minibus in Karachi.”
It was at this time Mr Douglas formed a working relationship with Ms Kazi and Mr Ali to bring this project into fruition.
"W11 is the most popular bus in Karachi in terms of decoration. It is like a museum on wheels," says Mr Ali.
Listen to Mr Mick Douglas recall the story in his own words:
The Challenge
The biggest task for Mr Ali was to find the right artisans to work on the project. The vehicle decorators are not very well educated and have learnt the skill passed onto them from ustads (teachers).
The dilemma for these decorators was to design and comprehend intricate details that would go on the tram without having it physically present in Karachi.
Then began an exchange of emails between Mr Douglas and Mr Ali, which included details of the tram’s dimensions. The metric system being different was another added task for Mr Ali. He had to convert all measurements into inches for the decorators to accurately construct the designs.
It took a period of three months, and a 15-man team working day and night, to pre-prepare all the material in Karachi. It was then shipped to the Preston workshop in Melbourne.
Tram decorator installing a light inside the W11 Tram Source: Getty Images
Intricate details such as paint, text, steel, lighting, interior, exterior and cushions were all accomplished in a three-week period.
The W11 was then ready as a new bride for its launch. The title given to the Karachi W11 Tram was 'Pyar Zindagi Hai - Love is life'.
The excitement of the people supporting and helping the team was massive. They could not wait to see how the end result would look.
Pyar Zindagi Hai - Love is Life Source: SBS Urdu
“I think everyone thought something extraordinary was happening and no one had any pre-conceived expectations,” Mr Ali recalls from his time at the Preston workshop.
Listen to Mr Wajid Ali recall the story in his own words:
The Launch of W11
Months of planning, preparation and hard work had all led to this moment; the launch of Karachi W11 tram by the Minister for Commonwealth Games Justin Madden.
The decorators were adorned in garlands of flowers at the launch.
The tram then completed a course around the City Circle route over 16 days, hosting over 80,000 people. During their journey, they were given a souvenir ticket which had traditional truck art poetry written on it.
To mimic what the conductors do in Karachi the W11 tram also had a conductor who belonged to The Connies, a performance troupe of tram conductors.
Robert D'Andrea who performed the conducting duties is still amazed at peoples' reactions.
"Performing tram conductors would jump out of the tram to call out the stops. Once everyone was inside they would bang the side of the tram and head back inside,” recalls Robert D’Andrea.
(Above Photo used with permission of artist Mick Douglas sourced from website.)
Source: Karen Trist
Mr Ali organised the tapes of Punjabi folk music that were played in the W11 minibuses. The same music was being played in the tram while people danced to the beats.
"There was a lot of dancing, singing and live performances happening. It was essentially a dance tram with cultural and creative expression," says Mr D’Andrea.
Pakistan in a Positive Light
This tram had introduced Pakistan in a new manner to the people of Australia.
“People told us the first time we heard of Pakistan was winning the 1992 Cricket World Cup and this is the second time we are hearing about Pakistan in such detail,” says Mr Ali.
The project was so successful that it went on to become the subject of a Victorian Secondary school education program around cultural diversity.
Why O Why can't this wonderful example (of) Pakistani/Indian culture be left trundalling the streets of Melbourne on a permanent basis
“Why O Why can't this wonderful example Pakistani/Indian culture be left trundling the streets of Melbourne on a permanent basis. It's such a wonderful thing, and all power to all involved in this project you have bestowed Melbourne with a great gift thank-you” commented one of the passengers ‘Peter’ on the project's website.
Due to the great success of the project as part of the Commonwealth Games, the W11 tram went on to run for a second season in the summer of 2006-2007.
Further Achievements of the W11 project
Mr Douglas, as part of the second season, ran a program of exploring the art of journeys over six city loops of Melbourne CBD every Friday night.
One of the journeys was a 60-minute lap of the city titled as Tram Overheard.
Two guests, who were complete strangers to each other, were invited to undertake a journey of dialogue.
Their conversations around the themes of hospitality, migration and generosity in the civic realm were broadcast in the tram and later online as a podcast.
To get an idea what it was like being on the tram at the time, here’s a small extract of a conversation between Waleed Aly and Tony Birch discussing the importance of Soccer and Footy.
(Sound used with permission of artist Mick Douglas. Sourced from www.tramtactic.net/W-11)
Another aspect of the journey around the City Loop was termed Tram Overboard. The concept behind this was to have artists perform live music from different backgrounds and share their traditions with the commuters.
Listen to a performance by Zeeshan Mehdi and Mr Robi, while they take you on a journey of popular Pakistani folk songs. This is a live recording from 2007.
(Sound used with permission of artist Mick Douglas. Sourced from www.tramtactic.net/W-11)
Present-Day
Committee members of the Museum are organising visual screens to be installed in the tram to showcase its successful past.
They plan to achieve this in the next few months and provide an interactive experience to the visitors.
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Before (left) and after (right) Source: Tram Museum Website and SBS Urdu
Inside the Karachi W11 Tram Source: SBS Urdu
Source: Tramtactic Website
