Messages painted behind trucks that criss-cross the country have caught my interest for long. They range from the prosaic to the sublime, simple, poetic and even witty. Some catchy enough to put any top-notch copywriter to shame. Some of the ad guys from India’s Madison Avenue surely must have been inspired from these one-liners — though they would be loathe to admit it.

Brightly painted and ubiquitous and meant for the drivers behind them are ‘Horn OK Please’, or ‘Use Dipper At Night’. Some of these pithy statements could be used to promote the use of condoms.

Interestingly, the government did use this moving space creatively — the brainchild of a creative bureaucrat, an oxymoron though — to promote family planning. ‘Hum do, hamare do’ (We two, ours two), ‘Doosra abhi nahin, Teesra kabhi nahin’(Not second one now, and a third never), advocated the advantages of a small family.

However, the most popular and time-tested one is the simple and ubiquitous, ‘Buri nazar wale tera moonh kala’ (The one with the evil eye, may your face be blackened) which is generic. So is ‘Mera Bharat Mahaan

The truckers are simple folk with a joie de vivre. But they also reveal a thinking mind and their attitudes manifest in the writings behind their trucks. They range from the mother-worshipping son to the religious; from the incurable romantic to the lover whose love was unrequited; the happy-go-lucky to the philosopher.

Some of these include ‘Ma ke kadmon ke neechey jannat hai’, (Heaven is under mother’s feet). Beneath that sublime message is a seemingly mundane ‘Ghar kab aayengey?’ (When will you come home?). ‘Naseeb apna apna’ (To each his destiny) is a driver-philosopher’s surmise. ‘Samay se pehle, bhagya se jyaada kabhi nahin milta’ (One never gets anything before time and more than his share of luck), is a take from a Persian couplet. ‘Darr ke aage jeet hai’ (There’s victory beyond fear) is a motivator; ‘Jeeyo aur jeeney do’, is a ‘Live and let live’ driver.

A well-wishing ‘Janey wale tera khuda hafeez’, (The one leaving, may God be your guardian), and finally the ‘Phir milengey’ optimist waving goodbye.