VOL. 78, NOS. 1–2 65

Sci. & Cult. 78 (1–2) 65-70 (2012)

Literary Consequences of Mobile FolkNarratives: Contemporary Graffiti(Textual and Visual) in Public and

Private Transport in India

ABSTRACT : Documentation of literary pieces, rhymes, graffiti,poems, proverbs and other artifacts based on the tradition,belief and practice are considered equivalent to the recordingof Traditional Cultural Expression (TCEs). The culture thatproduces such innovative, practical and thoughtful pieces ofgraffiti belongs to the so-called 'low' culture - a broad culturalconglomeration covering drivers of public and privatetransport like trucks, buses, trekkers, tractors and othergroup of those belonging to the concerned communitybehind the driving of public/private vehicles all over India.This paper is an attempt to show that these contemporarypieces of literature may be obtained from this graffiti, andeven influences the popular culture of folk literature.

Key words: Traditional Cultural Expression (TCEs), Folk CreativeWriting, Graffiti on Trucks, Graffiti on Public/Private Vehicle in

India, Transporting

Traditional cultural expressions (“expressions offolklore”) include music, art, designs, names, signs,

symbols, performances, architectural forms, handicrafts andnarratives1. Typically Traditional Cultural Expressions(TCEs) are identified by the cultural and social ethos ofindigenous and local communities, and reflect their know-how, skills, and also transmit core symbols, values andbeliefs. The protection of these TCEs finds its way intoofficial documentation and recording on suitable media.Such methodical recording is related to the promotion ofcreativity, enhanced cultural diversity and the preservationof cultural heritage to a great extent2,3.

The mobile folk narratives in the contemporary graffiti(both Textual and Visual) related to public/privatetransportation schemes in India like trucks, buses, trekkers,tractors, are manifestations of community based culturaldocumentation. The culture that gives out such innovative,practical and thoughtful pieces of graffiti belongs to theso-called ‘low’ culture – the culture of drivers of publicand private transport like truck, bus, trekker, the tractorand other concerned community driving a public or private

vehicle all across India. A number of folklore, maxims andproverbs are typically used for decoration of vehicles.These decorations on trucks and buses provide familiaritywith the culture, information, entertainment, humor andvalues that are cherished by the community at large.

The folklore of India contains a wide diversity ofethnic, linguistic, and religious groups and therefore thelocal manifestations are diverse. Hinduism, the religion ofthe majority in India, is a heterogeneous faith and generatesunity through diversity. Folk religion in Hinduism may givebirth to the many a rationale behind numerous localreligious practices. However, folklore is much more thanelements of religious or supernatural beliefs and practices,and does encompass the entire body of social tradition. Apart of this social tradition is transmitted through oral,visual and documented narratives and artifacts through thesewritings, drawings and articles like that of a tyre, tornshoes, and colorful combinations of lemon and chiliesthreaded together, or one of the much overused pictorialof the broom and bamboo basket stringed together.

Literature dominates other popular folk art forms usedin the writings at the body and especially at the back ofvehicles. Though one might get a glimpse of look-alikeslike the Madhubani paintings from Bihar, the Warlipaintings from Maharashtra or the Tanjore paintings fromSouth India with the profuse use of golden colours in lieuof real gold, but these visuals only enhance the face valueof the literary texts displayed on the body of the vehicle.Female figures from Bollywood are also prevalent asvisuals. It is not uncommon to see that a roughly donepainting of Madhuri Dixit, a popular movie superstar,associated with an annotated box having the dialogue like‘Phir Kab Miloge’ or say, Kareena Kapoor, another famouscine-star, in another visual waves her hands behind the well-known text “OK, Tata, Bye”. Generally females are shownin folk or tribal costumes and in other elements of folklore3.One may consider this as an advertisement in the socialcontext of India for the promotion of tourism. The tribalcultures and folklore are certainly attractions to many. Thesignificance of the richness of the folklore in India can bea subject of a much larger study for both culturalanthropologists and folklorists.

Research Communication

66 SCIENCE AND CULTURE, JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 2012

Related Works : Literary consequence of mobile folknarratives has not been analyzed by researchers so farthough there are a number of studies of literaryconsequence related to folk song, folk language and otherforms of folk narratives like maxims and proverbs4, 5, 6, 7.However, the community of ‘the truckers of North Indiahave a strong kinship with the “Yamdoots” (Ambassadorof Death God), ever ready to swoop on you and whiskyou away to meet your maker’8. How can some literaryextravaganzas emanating from such a “Yamdoot”?

The trucker is considered to beresponsible for every look of his vehicleeven though he may not own the vehicle.All the ornamental decorations of the truckor bus are considered to be aligned withhis philosophy of his own life. Thisprofession is truly dominated by males ofthe society and therefore there is a stronggender bias behind the general philosophyof decoration. The decoration may revealthe truck driver as a very humane (Papa,Jaldi Ghar Aa Jana’), a considerate person(‘Horn Bajao Age Jao’), a philosopher(‘Samay Jindagi se Kimti Nahi’), aresponsible citizen of India (‘Hum DoHamare Do’, a die-hard romantic (‘PhirKab Miloge’)(S.No.–1,2,3), and “only attimes contemptuous of those who cast anevil eye on either his vehicle or hisvocation”8. Without any doubt, one getsthe impression of the existence of a greatphilosopher poet deep rooted within thesetruckers.

The trucks are typically bedeckedwith varied visuals like a black orcolourful silk tussle, a red cloth fromVaishno Devi with the inscription ‘JaiMata Di’ (Victory to the Mother (S.No.–4)), or the dangling shoe almost torn andthe string of lemons with chilies slung atthe back of the vehicle to provideprotection from the evil eye which maycast a spell of jealousy (S.No.–5,6). Othersimilar items include the over used broomand basket used for protection and thegraffiti which we draw all over thevehicle. The character of the truckerrevealed through these literary and visualpieces is always considered unfailinglypolite who especially to those who would

give a ‘pass’ to vehicles behind them, even without asking.They also leave a number of timely advices for their co-travelers who may need it.

Almost all types of sentences (imperative, advice,curse, request and others) are readily available within threeto four hours for writing at the back or body of the trucksplying inter-state on any of the national highways. A typicalrequest, “Blow OK horn please” (S.No.–7), has the actualrequest “Blow Horn Please” with the large OK painted atthe center as a design element. An advice: “Use dipper at

Figure 1: Text written on the diesel tank of a truck at Kotputli, Rajasthan with the inscription“Water of Iraq”

Figure 2: A truck at the traffic lights in Pipli, Haryana with sermon (Source: [9] - Photographs,2010)

VOL. 78, NOS. 1–2 67

night” for the fellow truckers is useful. A curse: ‘Buri nazarwale tera muh kala’ with the usual antidotes to the evileye, like a dangling torn shoe or the string of lemons withchilies. A number of variants of this are readily availablethat are given in (T–8,9,10).

Case Study : We present a survey of contemporaryliterary pieces on the body of the truck/tanker/trekker/busto understand and to identify their core functionalities andassociated literary quality attributes. Table 1 presents thecollected texts on the various parts of the body of the truck;mainly at the back of the vehicle.

The writings may be humorous in the social contextand demands a certain level of intelligence, awareness andliteracy to appreciate the narratives (Figure 1, Figure 2 andFigure 4) on the body of the trucks.

A number of English texts amplify the popularity ofthe language and usage of the English text that promotesthe culture to an acceptable level among intellectuals. Thecollection includes The Land is so barren & the passes sohigh that only our fiercest enemies or our best friendswould want to visit us -Ladakhi Saying ... or I’m deaf,dumb and blind as long as the Light is RED8. At times

appropriate wicked humor is alsopresented in a subtle manner (Figure 4).‘STOP H1N1’. H1N1 is the Swine Fluvirus that ravaged India in 201010. Amarker on the oil tanker, ‘HighlyInflammable’ curiously gets combinedwith the expression of a national feelingwritten beside, ‘Nation on the move’ andhas the added almost naughty humor of‘Highly Inflammable Nation on themove’9.

Influence of Transport RelatedGraffiti in Contemporary Literature :Table 1 reflects a conscious and humaneeffort to achieve a well-defined societalvalue system. Our contemporary literaturerepresents the same though there is theneed of other subject matter to bepresented through the contemporaryliterature. The literary text is also heavilyinfluenced by the daily chores of thetrucker, his life style, and his elementsof thought and other matters of practicalimportance.

Entry number (S.No.–9) in Table 1gives a rhyme, but seems to bemeaningless. If we relate it to theelements of driving of the trucker, we find‘Sattar’ is 70 and ‘Tirshat’ is 63. Thisforms the truck’s four-digit vehicle licensenumber. The license number seems to besaved from all the evil eyes. The secondline says a curse for those who set anevil eye on the vehicle or the driver.

Entry number (S.No.–10) of Table1 starts off with a blessing to the childrenof the one with evil eye and ends withthe curse: May your children be

Figure 3: Croydon, UK (Source: [9] - Photographs, 2010)

Figure 4: Swine Flu Attached Images (Source: [10] - H1N1Photographs, 2010)

68 SCIENCE AND CULTURE, JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 2012

TABLE 1: Literary Text at the back of the Truck

S. No. T. Number Hindi (Original) Company English Version

1 UP 72 8.9253 —FF—FF °F·ºU êFfi EF °FFŒFF Tanker Daddy, Come Home Soon

2 UP 42 4626 P◊Åfi ÇÅŸF P¤F·FXçFW Tata When shall we meet again

3 URM 9720 òFFgºŒFU fiF∂F ¤FWk ∂F] ‹FFº EFGa, Tata I remember you on the full moon

¤FY ıFX çF‹FF çFF∞sU òF·FU çFGa day, I sleep in your dream, thevehicle passes away

4 °F‹F ¤FF∂FF ºU Victoy to the Mother !

5 UP 70-BT 2153 ŸF]fiU ŒF°Ffi ÊFF·FW ∂FWfiF ¤Fg[˘ ÇÅF·FF Tata You evil eye, may your face be blackened

6 UP 70-U-9902 *˘Pfi‹FW, ŸF]fiU ŒF°Ffi ÊFF·FW ∂FWfiF ⁄FU ˘X ⁄F·FF Tata Please stop, you evil eye good wishesfor your too.

7 UP 70 M.9633 ˘FŒFa ŸF°FFJ - EFçFW °FFJ Tata Blow horn and go ahead!

8 UP 70A-9359 —FFÊFfi ŸFeWÇÅ + ˘FªF ¤FWk ˘ÊFU·F fiFı∂FW ¤FWk —FP˘‹FF, Tata Wheel in hand, wheels on the road,

òF·F ¤FWfiU çFF∞sU °F·ºU äFçFP∞s‹FF Hey my vehicle, move fast to Khagaria.

9 UP 70 BT.1300 70 ÇWkÅ ◊[Å·F 63 ÇÅU ¤FF·FF, Tata Flower of ‘70’, garland of ‘63’ – Hey,

ŸF]fiU ŒFºfi ÊFF·FWk ∂FWfiF ¤F]g˘ ÇÅF·FF you evil eye – may your face beblackened

10 UP 70 M.9770 ŸF]fiU ŒF°Ffi ÊFF·FW ∂FWfiW ŸFòòFW P°F‹FW, Tata You evil eye ! May your children be

ŸF∞W ˘XÇÅfi ºWËFU ËFfiFŸF P—F‹FW condemned to a life time of addicionto country liquor

11 UP 42 T.4593 ¤FWfiF ⁄FFfi∂F ¤F˘FŒF Tata India is great

12 UP 52 T.3116 ŸFUŸFU fi˘W P©—F ©Fg—F, Tata Wife keeps ‘tip-top’,

ºX ÇWÅ ŸFFº ◊]Å·F ı©Fg—F After two kids, ‘Full-stop’.

13 MKA-1303 º]·˘ŒF ÊF˘U °FX P—F‹FF ¤FŒF ⁄FF‹FW, Tata The one who wins the heart of beloved,

çFF∞U ÊF˘U °FX ŒFX© ÇŤFF‹FW is the bride, the one who earns money,is the vehicle of pride.

14 UP 70 AT-6163 òF·F∂FU ˘Y çFF∞sU, H∞∂FU ˘Y ÕF[·F, Tata The vehicle moves, dust fills the sky

PŒFÇÅ·F∂FF ˘Y —FıFUŒFF, PŸFäFfi∂FW ˘Y ◊]Å·F The hard work brings sweat and flowersfill my day.

15 UP 71 B-2100 òF·F∂FU ˘Y çFF∞sU, H∞∂FU ˘Y ÕF[·F, Tata The vehicle moves, dust fills the sky

°F·F∂FW ˘Y º]ˤFŒF PŸFäFfi∂FW ˘Y ◊]Å·F The every gets jealoas and flowers fillmy day

16 UHN 3284 ÇÅF·FF º]∂FFa ÇÅ·FF òFˤFF ÇÅF·FF fikçF ÇÅ≥FGa ÇÅF, Tata Black shirt, black sunglass, dress

JÇÅ ∂FX ∂FWfiU ‹FFº ıF∂FFJ, º[°FF ıFXòF ÇŤFFGa ÇÅF embroiderd in blackI miss you but I worry for mony pack.

17 UP 32 T.7824 ıFXŒFF Pº‹FF ıFXŒFFfi ÇÅX —FF‹F·F ŸFŒFF Pº‹FF, Tata I have given gold to goldsmith but he

©dÇÅ Pº‹FF ∞dFGÊFfi ÇÅX êFF‹F·F ŸFŒFF Pº‹FF ends up in a silver ‘payel’I have given my truck to the driver buthe causes injury to my track loyal.

18 UP 70 M.9543 òF·F ˘© ÇÅXGa ºWäF ·FWçFF Tata Please go away, we may be observed

19 UP 92 T.0020 ºWäFX ¤FçFfi —‹FFfi ıFW Tata Please look at me with love in your eyes.

20 UP 78 At.3855 E¤FUfiX ÇÅU P°FŒºçFU PŸFıÇ]Å© EZfi ÇWÅÇÅ —Ffi, Tata The rich lives on biscuit and cake.

∞dFGaÊFfi ÇÅU P°FŒºçFU, É·FòF EZfi ŸFeWÇÅ —Ffi The driver lives on clutch and brake

21 Up 44 A 3885 ÇŤFa ˘U —F[°FF ˘Y Tata Work is workship

VOL. 78, NOS. 1–2 69

condemned to a lifetime of addiction to country liquor.The country liquor is usually consumed by the people oflower economic strata of the society in India.

Truck drivers have a healthy sense of patriotism andsocial responsibility as well. Entry number (S.No.–11) ofTable 1 and Entry number (S.No.–12) of Table 1 presentssuch a sentiment. A number of variants of this entry areavailable in the table too. There is a cynical variant: ‘Soumein nobbe beiman, phit bhi mera Bharat mahan’. Also itmay be noted that there are a variety of ubiquitous familyplanning slogans (Entry number (S.No.–12) of Table 1).

Literary consequences may be measured from aninteresting poetic stance like Entry number (S.No.–12,13,14,15,16,17) of Table 1. A trucker’s life is largelyspent away from home driving in adverse weatherconditions and he finds solace in every adverse situationfrom all corners of his vehicle. The truck is the abode onthe move, a sleeping or resting corner and at the sametime, and a money earner too. He starts treating the truckas his beloved. The truck is always a “she” and Hindi(national language of India) grammar supports thisconnotation very well (Entry number (S.No.–13,18,19) ofTable 1). A translation of entry number (S.No.–13) isavailable in the weblog: “A true bride earns the love ofher beloved, And a true vehicle is that which fetchesearnings.”

The romantic exhortation through such texts getsconveyed to the vehicle behind. Once on a nationalhighway, we received a romantic message, ‘Rang Gaya,Roop Gaya, Gaya Hotho(n) Ki Lali…’. Before we couldcollect the rest part of this message, the truck took a turnto its destination. We could not take the mystic halfmessage and changed our route to follow the truck and wecould only manage to read the remaining part of the textonly after 9 kilometers off the track; ‘ … Aab To MeraPichha Chhoro, Main Huin Bacchewali’. We instantlyturned to our. pre-decided route for obeying the instructionwritten. The entertainment factor remained high till datefrom this venture.

The mix and match of romance of his life and hisprofession is highlighted with straightforwardness in someof these ‘trucklog’s or ‘transportlog’s. The followingtranslation is also borrowed from the same weblog: “I amtorn between my yearnings for my black-bedecked belovedand my need for earnings.”

The philosophical notes are different to ignore in thesenarratives. The connection with the socio-economic divideof the society is key and seems to be the corner stone ofentry number (S.No.–20).

Envy from the evil eye is one that every driver wantsto keep his truck away. Envy gets converted into virtuouselements by the imperative, ‘Jawlo, Magar Deepak KeTarah’. This language, especially the specific use ofsynonym of ‘Jwalo’ is difficult to translate in English withthe same connotation. Ever popular expressions ofphilosophy like, ‘Samay Hi Sona’ or ‘Time is gold’ thoughpopular, are contradictory as well. Another such exampleis ‘Jindagi Samay Se Kimti Hai’ or ‘Life is precious thantime’. The picture of all activities involved with truckers,trekkers and tankers become clear from ‘Eak Phul Do Mali,Subah Ko Load Sam Ko Khali’ or ‘The single flower hastwo gardeners to rear her, the truck is loaded in the morningto be emptied in the evening’. The driver and the keeper(‘Khalasi’ in the local language of India) of the truck arethe two gardeners of the truck or the ‘flower’. Everymorning the truck gets loaded with goods to be deliveredto its destination in the evening. Another example is theone about societal evil, dowry, prevalent in some part ofIndia, which is evident in the message, ‘Dahej Nahi, DulhanChahiye’ or ‘No dowry, only bride!(S.No.–12,21)’

‘Ram Bolo Darwaza Kholo’ is also is a popular graffitithat is found typically on the door of the driver’s cabin. Areal-life advice is always based on real-life experience like,‘Neki kar aur jute kha, Maine khayen hain tu bhi kha’. Awish expressing goodwill from truckers like the holder oflicense number 1263 is eternal in a world on the move.It is omnipresent, omnipotent. It is for one and all. Anothershorter variant is also popular (S.No.–21).

Conclusion : The authors and poets of these folknarratives are not recognized for their authorship and theirdeveloped messages remain anonymous for a life time.There have been efforts to preserve similar innovativetextual and visual narratives of Kantha (handmade ragsmade out of old clothes with embroidered text and design)in West Bengal, India11. A similar pioneering effort mayproduce an important database having the name of the folkauthors and poets who are contributing their bit to keepthe cultural fabric of our society alive.

Acknowledgement

I acknowledge with gratitude the contributions madeby Ms Aurunima Samaddar, a Class X student of MaharshiPatanjali Vidya Mandir, Allahabad, India; Arun KumarSingh of Information Security Laboratory, CSED, MotilalNehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad, Indiaand Dr. Shefali Nandan, School of Management Studies,Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad,

70 SCIENCE AND CULTURE, JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 2012

India. A special mention of Dr. Anujit Mukherjee, ProgramManager at TIAA-CREF, Rochester, New York for editingof this paper is made with gratitude. ❐

Shefalika Ghosh Samaddar1

1shefalika@mnnit.ac.in, shefalika99@yahoo.com,shefalika99@gmail.com

Corresponding Author’s address: Shefalika Ghosh Samaddar,Department of Computer Science & Engineering,The Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad,Uttar Pradesh 211 004 India.

The author acknowledges the support of the project ‘Development ofEducational Content and Associated Repository of Web Services forIntellectual Property Right’ Project No. DIT/IPR/7.1/72/2009 of DITGovt. of India, being the Chief Investigator of the Project.

Received : 19 August, 2010

1. Folklore at http://www.wipo.int/tk/en/folklore/ Last accessed on14.07.10

2. WIPO at www.wipo.int Last accessed on 15.07.10

3. Adivasikaran at http://www.humanrightsindia.net/folklore/folklore-india.aspx Last accessed on 14.07.10

4. Malayalam Literature at http://www.indianetzone.com/2/malayalam_literature.htm Last accessed on 14.07.10

5. Bhatiyali Folk Songs of India at http://www.india9.com/i9show/Bhatiyali-Folk-Song-24450.htm Last accessed on 15.07.10

6. Madhsei – united We stand at http://madhesi.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/geographical-cultural-and-religious-history-of-madhesh/ Last accessed on 15.07.10

7. Bhojpuri Sansar at http://www.bhojpuri.org/aapaka.htm Lastaccessed on 15.07.10

8. Santosh Ojha’s weblog, 2009 at http://santoshojha.wordpress.com/2009/05/20/trucks-of-north- india-poetry-in-motion/ Lastaccessed on 14.07.10

9. Photographs at http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/photography-f17/writings-trucks-t20193/ Last accessed on 14.07.10

10. H1N1 photograph at http://www.flickr.com/photos/24779165@N08/collections/ Last accessed on 14.07.10

11. Stella Kramrish, 1982 at http://www.visva-bharati.ac.in/GreatMasters/Contents/stella.htm Last accessed on 16.07.10