Come across a branded bus or truck on your way to work recently? Ads communicating a bright future, dinner at the Burj or perhaps even a big fat bank promise. And when you step inside that bus, or if you happen to have a peep at the driver of that truck, what is it you will see? A person looking as stale as the ad on his vehicle, that’s for sure.
The streets of Pakistan however, have a different story to tell. They don’t call it a colorful country for no reason. I speak of that truck you will see every few meters, that will turn your head, reminding you just how colorful the country can get. Do people living in Pakistan get fascinated with these vehicles? I can tell you one thing for sure; the people driving those trucks or buses were the ones who carefully selected them from a variety of other such trucks and buses, with the key criteria for selection being the extent of art that can be seen. Unlike the stale ads of glory and toothpaste in other parts of the world, these vehicles have intricacies and depict a style that is true to the nation’s fabric.
Wearing an attire much like the elaborate ethnic fashions of rural Pakistan, bursting with color, bright and shiny, each truck or bus driver's aim is to drive the most decorated truck or bus. That, for them, is a sense of pride.
Glitzy at night, it moves along the stretches of road, jingling and jangling the jewels it’s adorned in. A good looking bus is what will attract those who will use it; no real bus stops, just the simple spotting of a colorful chunk of ethnicity driving down the road. For those who don’t use it, they sit back and take in the sheer beauty that makes up their roads.
As for the tourists, they will certainly pick up a truck or bus souvenir from the airport while on their way out of Pakistan.
