[HN Gopher] Truck Art in Pakistan
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       Truck Art in Pakistan
        
       Author : brudgers
       Score  : 86 points
       Date   : 2021-01-05 00:00 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (mymodernmet.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (mymodernmet.com)
        
       | the_arun wrote:
       | I respect & appreciate talent of Pakistanis in art & music. They
       | have some legendary singers. Not sure it is the language (Urdu)
       | giving them that skill or they are natively talented.
        
         | abdullahkhalids wrote:
         | It's because the Mughal Kings who ruled most of the Indian
         | subcontinent for a couple of hundred years really promoted art
         | and music (instead of science and technology, I might add).
         | 
         | https://www.thefridaytimes.com/where-the-mughals-got-their-m...
        
         | CommanderData wrote:
         | I saw this playing on a Pakistani's colleagues desk walking
         | past, intrigued he sent me the link.
         | 
         | Play with CC, the atmosphere and lyrics I find of this live
         | piece is magical. I still come back to it occasionally.
         | 
         | https://youtul.be/gjaH2iuoYWE
        
           | amdolan wrote:
           | Perhaps it's a typo, but youtul(dot)be is probably not a link
           | anyone wants to click on.
        
           | asadlionpk wrote:
           | I would recommend going down that rabbit hole (specially Coke
           | Studio videos with CC) sometime. There are many more magical
           | ones in there.
        
       | tsomctl wrote:
       | Somewhat related, the Youtube channel Pakistani truck (https://ww
       | w.youtube.com/channel/UC64FbxoHfUWd5hykYk5_BvQ/vid...). Here's a
       | good example video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E3TnJX61Oo
       | 
       | It's absolutely amazing how good of work they do using
       | ridiculously crude tools. Extremely skilled people. I strongly
       | recommend you don't watch if you're a manager or OSHA inspector,
       | though.
        
       | mustntmumble wrote:
       | Here is another article about the painted trucks.
       | 
       | https://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/200502/masterpieces.to...
       | 
       | I was trying to find out why people started building wooden
       | crowns on top of the Bedford trucks in the first place, but no
       | luck... Did the crowns come first, and then get painted, or did
       | the art come first, and then people added the crowns in order to
       | create more surface area for the art?
        
       | haidrali wrote:
       | Good to see Pakistan related post on HN
        
         | nomy99 wrote:
         | True, but as someone who grew up in Pakistan, these trucks are
         | generally regarded as an eye sore.
        
           | umeshunni wrote:
           | why?
        
             | nomy99 wrote:
             | The trucks are often not maintained well mechanically so
             | there is a real danger when sharing the road with them.
             | Secondly, from my anecdotal experience they are driven
             | carelessly and there is a genuine fear factor from them.
             | 
             | Also, Pakistani people generally have an avant-garde
             | attitude towards flamboyancy. So this art kind of gets
             | bucketed in that.
        
               | olivermarks wrote:
               | I was surprised by this. I'd expect a beaten up truck (as
               | most are) would be poorly maintained and expendable in a
               | wreck whereas a highly personalized vehicle would be much
               | less likely to be damaged in crash by the driver given
               | the time and money involved. I'm a huge fan or
               | personalizing vehicles.
        
               | the_arun wrote:
               | The only concern I have is - changes to center of gravity
               | with these additions.
        
               | olivermarks wrote:
               | When empty maybe, a loaded truck isn't going to have many
               | issues with a wooden tiara over the cab
        
             | daneel_w wrote:
             | Probably because of their kitsch and garish appearance;
             | quote, "an eye sore".
        
       | gorgoiler wrote:
       | Pretty.
       | 
       | Those single rear axles though. They are the arch (ahem) enemies
       | of a well metalled road.
        
       | MrRiddle wrote:
       | I watched Mark Weins when he was in Pakistan. Interestingly,
       | during multiple half an hour videos, filmed on obviously very
       | busy streets, there was absolutely no female in sight. Such a
       | disgusting country.
        
       | ggm wrote:
       | The linkage between flamboyance and business is really cool!
       | Truck hire must be very direct for this to work.
        
       | jim-jim-jim wrote:
       | A similarly garish subculture exists in Japan:
       | 
       | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dekotora
       | 
       | I've never seen one on the road though. I wonder if it's just a
       | car show kinda thing.
        
         | mc32 wrote:
         | The paskistani trucks remind me more of Philippine Jeepneys[1]
         | than the japanese art trucks. The art 18-wheelers in Japan can
         | get pretty crazy though[2]. Some look like casinos on wheels.
         | 
         | [1] http://neocha.com/magazine/art-of-the-jeepney/
         | 
         | [2] https://www.messynessychic.com/2013/08/29/the-japanese-
         | subcu...
        
       | kazinator wrote:
       | Gas must be cheap in Pakistan.
        
         | unwind wrote:
         | I had the same thought.
         | 
         | It's $2.495 per gallon, according to [1]. That's EUR0.57 per
         | liter, which is about a third of the price here in Sweden so
         | "yes" to me.
         | 
         | [1]:
         | https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/Pakistan/gasoline_prices/
        
         | asadlionpk wrote:
         | Not quite! It's on expensive side when compared to avg income.
         | 
         | It feels comparatively very cheap in US.
        
       | miguelmota wrote:
       | Not as highly decorated, but in Latin America they do something
       | similar with buses. They're typically brightly painted old school
       | buses. They're referred as "chicken buses" and tend to be the
       | cheapest travel option.
       | 
       | They look like this:
       | https://www.google.com/search?q=chicken+bus&client=firefox-b...
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_bus
        
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       (page generated 2021-01-06 23:00 UTC)