I finally put my finger on it.
Why do I not like truck art anymore, when I used to love it before?
I get it now.
I used to love it in Karachi.
Karachi may have its fair share of street violence but the fashion sense of its people is anything but a, "bum dhamaka."
The fashion in Karachi is demure, almost understated on some occasions. You can tell who has taste by how they carry themselves, not by what they're carrying in their hands.
Lahore on the other hand..
There are classy people in Lahore too. My beef lies with the ad nauseum usage of truck art, that of course reflects on Lahoris' general sense of... umm... generosity in fashion.
I have seen truck art in every form here. On tin boxes, in cut out letters of the alphabet, on handbags, on the hems of shalwars, on shoes, everywhere.
Except on trucks. Trucks in Lahore are usually very plain-looking.
It's just not a novelty to seek delight in here. It's in my face, and owned by young adults and middle-aged people alike.
I like(d) truck art because it showed our similarities as a culture spread across a nation that is more long in topography than it is wide.
The truck goes everywhere, across this great vertical stretch of land, and the colors of the truck stand out in the rain, smog and dust-storms.
The truck art symbolises oneness because of similarity.
Enter a barrage of other mediums that have NOTHING to do with the truck art, and yet I see the designs and colors replicated on these surfaces. Without the essence.
How is it without the essence? It gives no credit directly or indirectly to the artisans that created the culture to begin with.
Now it's a border on a hem. Not a safety precaution for night-time driving across the Khyber Pass.
I want my truck art for truck art's sake back.
