Tata ... OK TATA

Follow us:WhatsappFacebookTwitterTelegram.cls-1{fill:#4d4d4d;}.cls-2{fill:#fff;}Google Newsbefore you move inwards ... must warn you this one is slightly serious ... I am missing something around me and am bemoaning the loss of a great institution ...

India is shining ... no better proof than the huge trucks rumbling up and down the golden quadrilateral ... there are many pluses ... our puny overloaded 6 wheeled trucks have grown into 10, 14, 18 and 22 wheelers ... multi axle rigids, semi trailers, etc are terms commonplace in the Indian Highway Dictionary ...

but something has died ... where are the bright red, yellow and green wooden bodies??? replaced by cold steel from Volvo, Tatra and MAN ... where are the cleaners sitting on the roof holding up dirty banyans in the wind ... after a quick scrub at a roadside pond??? the new trucks all come with built cabins ... so no more open skies ... MOST important??? where is the truck art ... that has featured in Nat Geo, Readers' Digest and Life??? simple .... with fully built trucks being the norm ... there is simply no room for those expressions of a trucker's language, faith or nature ...

sample a few classics ...

Danger, Dengar, Denger and DRENGAR
Horn OK Please (Tantra has a t-shirt saying HORNY ok Please :-))
Jalne waale jalte rahe ... 4564 Chalte rahe

and the omnipresent Buri Nazar Wale Tera Moonh Kaala

then the regional idiosyncrasies ...

Punjab: Bhagat Singh and Subhash Bose
Kerala: Flowers
Maharashtra: Shivaji

and all India favs like the Sai Baba, Use Dipper at Night and Speed 40 KM ... which have all disappeared with the advent of state of the art truck technology ... as always science has progressed at the cost of art!!!!

so i guess its the end of the road for the artists who made as much as 6000 to 8000 bucks out of a truck ... and maybe its time to say ... Tata ... OK TATA

first published:February 05, 2006, 11:20 ISTlast updated:February 05, 2006, 11:20 IST
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