A five-letter word scrawled on a billboard perched on the much-loved Nylex clock tower has been an unmisssable sight for quite some time for commuters transiting through Melbourne's Monash Freeway.
While most Melburnians believe it is the handiwork of SINCH, a famous graffiti artist who was electrocuted while train surfing back in the year 2014, it has become a subject of intrigue and identity for newly-arrived migrant from Punjab - a north Indian state, Malwinder Singh.
Mr Singh drives a truck for a private company and has been taking the freeway for almost every day on his way to work since the past few months.
To the 34-year-old who spotted the tagging nearly five months ago, the writing on the wall read 'SINGH' instead of ‘SINCH’.
Mr Singh says the sight left him amused at the tagger's audacity. "Two things popped in my head? Why and how?”
"Firstly, why would somebody scribble such a meaningful word (he means SINGH) on a public property and secondly, how did he even manage to spray paint that high up on a tower on a bustling freeway." Image
The word 'Singh', which literally means lion, holds special significance for people of the Sikh faith.
Although it is a common surname and middle name in north India, it was adopted by Sikhs as a mandatory surname after the Sikh baptism ceremony in 1699.
Whilst it is commonplace to find it imprinted on t-shirts, registration plates and cars among other things owned by people with the Singh surname, the bemused trucker says he had never imagined he would one day see it spray painted on a tower in Melbourne. 
"Every time I cross it, I feel like this graffiti epitomizes that we [Sikhs] have finally managed to leave a mark in this once foreign land. I feel at home”, adds Mr Singh.
Men wearing t-shirts with 'Singh' inscription Source: Facebook
However, Mr Singh is not the only one. When he shared the picture of the tagging with his group of friends, they all believed in the same conclusion and were at best amused.
Looking closely at the smeared tagging, one would understand why Mr Singh and his buddies would have perceived it as ‘SINGH’.
A curator based in Melbourne, Ratinder Grewal believes “like beauty, interpretation of art too lies in the eyes of the beholder”.
“We see what we want to see”
“Malwinder and his friends read it as SINGH because that’s a common word in their vocabulary and at the same time holds a very strong religious significance. On the contrary they would have never heard of the artist SINCH so it never crossed their minds”- Ratinder Grewal.
Fans pay tribute to graffiti artist 'SINCH' by spraying his nicknames on the walls Source: Instagram/plusruss
Speaking to SBS Punjabi, Mr Krkac said this sort of graffiti commonly known as 'tagging' on properties when done without the owner's permission is an offence and is nothing short of a gateway crime which often leads to more serious criminal incidents.
“Such tagging is a blot on the community. People have no permission, they just go and spray paint anywhere they like. It’s a starting point for young offenders. One day they are spray painting on public property, tomorrow they might go out and steal cars or worst murder somebody on the roads.”- Anthony Krkac, Founder, Vandal Trak
The community has a moral obligation to report such incidents, adds Mr Krkac.
Legal or not, scribbling emotions on walls is a form of graffiti that penetrated into Melbourne arguably around mid-1980.
From wealthy neighborhoods in the city to suburbs adjoining CBD, Melbourne residents are not shy about scrawling on walls.
Kajal Singh aka Dizy, a graffiti artist from India believes tagging is an integral element of graffiti and is any day better than “paid advertisements that hog the walls”.
Graffiti tagging in Melbourne Source: Getty Images/ labsas
“What you like is art and what you don’t like isn’t art? Bug banners and advertisements by brands are okay because they are paid even if they are meaningless. But if a person who wants to express through art to the public isn’t fair? The argument doesn’t make sense to me", says Ms Singh
Kajal Singh posing in front of her graffiti Source: Supplied
Graffiti drawn with permission in areas earmarked by the local council is legal, while everything else is just a destructive visual litter that needs to be eradicated.
The Melbourne city spends a mammoth sum of $1 million a year to remove graffiti with a zero-tolerance policy towards tagging on council property.
But in this case the authorities might not have to climb to great lengths as the treasured Nylex clock site will most likely disappear from the city's skyline at least for a few years to allow completion of an approved development project.
