Many times one does not find wisdom in books, the pure and heavenly presence of wisdom can only be felt when you get to the state of enlightenment. Wisdom should not necessarily come from highly educated person, often some experiences of common man and quotes teach you so many things which you would never understand by reading books. To add to this argument, one does not have to use words with deep, mystic meaning. In fact, the simpler is the word, better is the effect. I always had a dream of being a truck driver since childhood, don't ask the reason but somehow I felt he understands world better than rest of us. Maybe because he has seen and explored world much more than you and me, he has a higher insight of complexities of human life.
My dream of being a truck driver shattered into pieces when I found engineers and doctors with their beautiful wives; realities of life and steep inclination towards materialistic things once again conquered the pure, pristine ambition of a child. It was going very routinely until yesterday the thought popped in my mind and I started it putting here. I would say that truck driver's contribution towards the human development is always neglected and considered inferior. I know the society is always biased towards intellects who are highly educated than the real wizards, but heck ! I will not second society on this, I have some examples which will prove that truck drivers also have equal depth of knowledge as that of the celebrated philosophers. I will be explaining meanings behind the one liners that you often find at the back of a truck, many of you mock it but I call it words of wisdom , so here it goes ( For those who do not have indic fonts installed mostly on Linux Box can install it from here ) -
चुन्नू मुन्नू दे पप्पा दी गड्डी |
- Don't laugh. It shows the earnest love of a father who is away from his family for many days because of the nature of his job. He is reviving memories of those unforgettable moments he spent with his offspring. I don't understand how come people remember those sad dialogues of A.K. Hangal in Sholay or Naseeruddin Shah's classic performance in Masoom and at the same time laugh at our driver's emotions.
दोस्ती पक्की, खर्चा अपना अपना |
- This is business buddy ! I have never seen any other better statement than this which clearly and succinctly expresses the boundaries between a friend and a parasite. If you know one, send it to me through a comment on this post.
खेतो पे किसान, सीमा पर जवान |
- I don't think there is any dispute over this line, as told in our 4th standard's social science's book , we all know Indian economy is highly dependent on it's agricultural development. And it is the truth that we have a sound sleep every night only because our jawans are trying really hard to protect our borders from intruders.
जगह मिलने पर साइड दी जायेगी |
- Many of us do not understand the simple meaning behind this line. It shows the clarity of thought and a level of maturity to understand need and urgency of others. How else a truck driver could convey his thoughts to someone who is behind him? They do not have high tech wireless radio systems to exchange words in case of urgency.
चलती है गाडी, उड़ती है धुल |
जलते हैं दुश्मन, खिलते हैं फूल ||
- Apparently, these two statements look unrelated, but as I said earlier, you need to keep your biased mind away in order to understand the hidden wisdom behind these lines. Our driver is saying that when someone makes progress, there are people who are always jealous of his / her achievements. But irrespective of their envious nature one has to keep travelling the path of glory. What a way to put things in such a simple words !
अमीरों की ज़िन्दगी बिस्कूट और केक पर |
ड्राईवर की ज़िन्दगी क्लच और ब्रेक पर ||
- I can see your laughing faces. But believe me, you need to have a heart and soul of a truck driver to understand the meanings of these lines. I am often amazed by seeing the driving skills of truck drivers and hence totally support this statement wholeheartedly.
नदी किनारे मैना बैठी, दाना खाए छल्ली दा |
तू तो राजा बन गया ड्राईवर, दिल ना लागे अकेली दा ||
- I don't know about you guys, but tears rolled on my cheeks when I first read these lines. Can you imagine the situation of driver's wife when he has to go for a long trip? Tell me, we see number of movies in which army men return to their posts on a very short notice, but why don't we apply same rule to truck drivers? Why is the approach so partial ?
पापा ना पियो शराब |
खरीद दो मुझे एक किताब ||
- Well, this is more of a self awareness kind of initiative. Yes, truck drivers are also human beings and they also need some education. And they don't want it to be told in a complicated manner. I appreciate the honesty behind these lines.
१८ के फूल, ८४ की माला |
बुरी नज़र वाले तेरा मुह काला ||
- I am a strong believer of believes, some of you guys derogatorily call it as superstitions. Since this is very close to truck driver's religious beliefs, let's not comment on it.
क्या साथ लाया है, क्या साथ ले जायेगा |
खाली हाथ आया था, खाली हाथ जायेगा ||
- See some similarity? Raksesh Roshan should be sued for stealing these lines. I think, now you people's perspective towards drivers should change significantly. If you trace the roots of these lines, you will find it in Bhagwad - Geeta.
मालिक की गाड़ी, ड्राईवर का पसीना |
चलती है रोड पर बनके हसीना ||
- This is my personal favorite. Truck driver's profession is still in demand because of these lines. See the self esteem and self respect ? Such lines make me still follow the good old dream of mine. It portrays a responsible, hard working and carefree bird like attitude of a driver which gives him the strength to walk the less traveled road. Hats off to your attitude guys !
Finally, I want to conclude - truck drivers are not like the one which we see in Hindi movies, they are normal humans like us with emotions. They also have problems and dreams like all of us. I honestly expect after reading this post, you guys will start respecting truck drivers in a same sense as you do with doctors, engineers and so called professionals.
Comments, suggestions, more words of wisdom are most welcome !
