Random Click: Foods of India in a Truck

I found this display at a mall in Bangalore, that led to the section of different snacks and savouries from different parts of India. The colors and design were so attractive that I immediately clicked a snap.

But there is more to this display than merely the cutout of a truck and vibrant colours. Why a truck? Why so many colours? Why is this the best representation of the diverse yet integrated India?

To understand, you have to know that India has 29 states and each is so distinct in its cultures, customs, language and cuisine that you might witness a different 'India' at every state. And trucks, after the Indian railways, play an instrumental role in moving goods from one part of the country to another. Not surprisingly at present there are more than 1300 trucks per million population, whereas the utilization of trucks is more than 70,000 kms per annum!

Trucks carry vehicles and clothing, sometimes people too (that's another story) but most of all they carry food. From essential grains to popular snacks, they connect India and help carry the taste of Maharashtra to Bengal or Kashmir to Karnataka. 

On the roads, you will always find trucks, sometimes much to the dismay of other vehicle drivers, because of the irritating roadblocks they tend to cause. But peek into the life of these truck drivers, some five million of them, and you realize that their life is that truck. For days and months they are on the road. Sometimes going to remote areas where there is not even a road. They are away from their homes, from their family all round the year and it is a a very harsh and dreary life. So they decorate their truck. They paint it in vibrant colours. Give a makeover with flowers and festoons, ribbons and parandis (hair accessory worn by many Indian women typically in the Northern parts). And invariably have a great phrase painted on their rears. Yes, you can actually have a fun-filled road journey in India if you only watch the rear of the trucks and read what they have to say. 

All Indian Trucks have much to say. Thank you The Dream Traveler for this image.

Trucks therefore represent India and food like no other.

Digging in into the packet of snacks that was especially brought from Madhya Pradesh to me in Karnataka, I thank the truck driver silently and look at the apt display once more.