There’s wisdom and humour on the back of Nepali trucks

This truck carries the message: If you want to pluck a flower, don’t lop off the branch; if you want to lead a life, don’t deceive [anyone]. Image by Flickr user Jana Reifegerste. CC BY-SA 2.0

Next time you’re in Nepal, you might notice something special about the trucks plying the country’s roads. Like in Pakistan, Nepalese trucks carry quirky, witty verses and contextual satire. The messages range from politics and philosophy to love, humour and even expletives. These days, they aren’t limited to trucks, but show up on public buses and safa tempos (battery-powered tuk-tuk) too.

There are a few initiatives in Nepal to compile these expressions. According to columnist CP Aryal, a magazine called Bus Sahitya, meaning “bus literature,” was launched several years ago in a move to acknowledge the literary value of the verses splashed on the back of vehicles. And Subid Guragain, a journalist and teacher, published a compilation of 700 such messages titled Truck Sahitya, meaning “truck literature,” in 2011.

Aryal writes:

What drives people to scrawl these lines on their vehicles? And why do so many do it? Govinda Lamsal, who drives a truck, says that in a line of work that is so mechanical, these words or images are a way of showing some creative flair and personal philosophy. “People perceive us as hardened folk without emotions,” he says. “Well, we have feelings too, and this is usually our only means of showing them while on the road.”