Let’s admit it, despite their monstrous presence on roads and loud blaring horns, trucks are actually entertaining. If you’ve never read the funny, patriotic, pedagogical and occasionally senseless, messages written behind them, you’ve missed out on half the highway fun. Sample these: ‘Sadak par mat karo khel, Warna police bhej degi jail,’ ‘Sona diya sunaar ko, paayal bana diya. Dil diya yaar ko, ghayal bana diya,’ ‘Dil dungi ek ko, wo bhi kisi nek ko. Ye mandir ka prasad nahin, jo baant du har ek ko.’ Some of us even memorise a few of these one-liners to repeat them at get-togethers. However, nowadays, with autos and trucks also displaying poems and anecdotes, it’s not restricted to one-liners alone.
Delhi-based Ashima Madan is one such who’s so fascinated with these that she started a page on Facebook that documents wisecracks painted behind these large vehicles. It’s called Wisdom on Wheels and was launched in May this year. “I don’t specifically focus on art or writings alone. My focus is on this practice as a sub-culture and what it denotes about other aspects of Indian culture,” says Ashima, who is a marketing and communications specialist with a start-up.
It began with her fondness for trucks. “My grandmother tells me that as a child I used to tie a dupatta like a pagri and pretend to be a truck driver. However, the obsession with truck art really began in 2012 when I visited the Attari-Wagah border beyond Amritsar. Beautiful Pakistani trucks were lined up at the entrance there, and I asked my mother to click a picture of me with those. I realised that a truck and its decoration plays an important role in the life of a trucker and started reading about it. I eventually did my dissertation in college on the topic ‘Truck Art in India: Reflecting on ideas of Public Space and Sub-culture.’
Wisdom on Wheels has around 675 likes on Facebook and is also equally popular on Instagram. While most of the messages are in Hindi, there are also translations for those who don’t follow the language. In addition, there are interesting nuggets of information — did you know woman truck driver Shameem Pathan was the inspiration behind the video for the song ‘Mann Ke Manjeere’ sung by Shubha Mudgal? There’s also a snapshot from Nike’s Da Da Ding commercial, where female athletes are posing in front of a few beautifully-decorated trucks.
While she’s tried to feature these goods carriers from different states of the country — Maharashtra, Haryana, U.P., Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Nagaland, most are from Delhi. There are some states that are yet unexplored. But since Ashima plans to make it a crowd-sourced project, where people can contribute pictures from across the globe, that should take care of it. “I run a theme called #AllIndiaPermit where I try to focus on truck art from across the states. I hope to cover all the states and regions soon with the help of contributors.”
“Vehicular art is present in many countries. When you spend days and months at a stretch in a vehicle, it becomes a part of your identity. Just like we decorate our homes, drivers tend to decorate their abode too. Other countries with particularly interesting truck art include Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, the U.S. and Indonesia among others. The one I find most interesting is Japan. They have modified trucks with lights that make them look like transformers. This particular sub-culture is known as Dekotora. Writings are also present on trucks in many of these countries,” explains the 24-year-old.
She notices that like most things, this art form is also undergoing a transformation. Plastic stickers have now found their way onto these vehicles in place of hand painted motifs and text. The owners of these vehicles take great pride in them and there’s often competition among truck drivers. The page now also includes wisecracks and art on tempos, buses, cars and autos.
“The idea is to give due importance to this art form and to those who practise it. Truck art provides many insights into the lives of the drivers and the industry. If you ever meet a few truck drivers, you’ll be delighted with the wisdom they hold,” she says.
