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Truck Art in Pakistan (2018)

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Re: Truck Art in Pakistan (2018)

#61
post #35
post #7

I respect & appreciate talent of Pakistanis in art & music. They have some legendary singers. Not sure it is the language (Urdu) giving them that skill or they are natively talented.

Punjabi folk is quite beautiful. Sufi music is great, and the lyrically it's profoundly beautiful. For someone who's new to it I think Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is good gateway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0gND07edEI And for something more poppy, Nazia Hassan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7zm5XTvIT8

I'm a big fan of Nasreddin stories, so could someone please give me an ELI5 condensation of the role of Sufism within wider islamic thought?

Re: Truck Art in Pakistan (2018)

#62
post #7

I respect & appreciate talent of Pakistanis in art & music. They have some legendary singers. Not sure it is the language (Urdu) giving them that skill or they are natively talented.

Urdu is the native language of a very small number of Pakistanis, mostly the 3% of the population that descend from families that moved from India at independence, the Mojahirs. Punjabi and Sindhi are mother tongue to far more people.

Mohajir, you seem to have the 'h' and 'j' interchanged.

Re: Truck Art in Pakistan (2018)

#63
post #7

I respect & appreciate talent of Pakistanis in art & music. They have some legendary singers. Not sure it is the language (Urdu) giving them that skill or they are natively talented.

Urdu is the native language of a very small number of Pakistanis, mostly the 3% of the population that descend from families that moved from India at independence, the Mojahirs. Punjabi and Sindhi are mother tongue to far more people.

Pakistani here. While that is true, everyone speaks Urdu. If you have a regional language you can grow up speaking both languages fluently, or just one—depending on which you're more exposed to—and even English if you were educated in it.

For example, my dad's regional language was Seraiki, and my mom's Punjabi, and they speak both and Urdu fluently. I grew up in an area where the regional language was Punjabi. But, I'm not as fluent in Punjabi or Seraiki as I am in Urdu.

However, I've never had trouble using Urdu with someone in Pakistan, even if their regional language was Sindhi, Pashto or Hindko. Also, I don't know why if it's just me, but most regional languages sound very similar—I've had conversations where I spoke Urdu while the other person spoke in a regional language.

Re: Truck Art in Pakistan (2018)

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was surprised by this. I'd expect a beaten up truck (as most are) would be poorly maintained and expendable in a wreck whereas a highly personalized vehicle would be much less likely to be damaged in crash by the driver given the time and money involved. I'm a huge fan or personalizing vehicles.

The only concern I have is - changes to center of gravity with these additions.

I encourage you to Google images for "overloading trucks pakistan". Those pictures are the norm.

I've often had to drive slowly behind a truck on a main road because the truck's load was hanging off the top, and out the sides and blocked the adjacent lanes. And yes, these trucks are huge.

Re: Truck Art in Pakistan (2018)

#65

Gas must be cheap in Pakistan.

Not quite! It's on expensive side when compared to avg income. It feels comparatively very cheap in US.

I can second this. The price is considered very expensive and every increase is met with huge criticism.

(Also hi Asad, great seeing you!)

Re: Truck Art in Pakistan (2018)

#66

I watched Mark Weins when he was in Pakistan. Interestingly, during multiple half an hour videos, filmed on obviously very busy streets, there was absolutely no female in sight. Such a disgusting country.

I grew up in Karachi, and this "absence of women" is an alien concept to me. It is common for competing stores selling nearly the same product to be next to each other, organically forming a whole street market with hundreds of stores specializing in products of one theme. There's an electronics parts market, an LED bulbs market, a used books market, a glass market, a kitchen-ware market, a used clothing market, the…

Not endorsing the super parent comment's outrageous conclusions, but...

I'm not sure I follow. I grew up in Lahore, and there is an absence of women out of specific market places where they feel safe to go to. This is anecdotal, but if you walk from one point in a city, even Karachi, to another, you'll encounter far more men than women.

Additionally, Pakistani culture conflates honor with literally the "veil" (_pardah_)[0]. When the motorway rape happened the Lahore Capital City Police Officer put the blame on the victim for "travelling late at night without her husband's permission".[1]

I'm just saying, there really is an "absence of women" and the reasons are cultural associations with honor and decency. Acknowledging the problem is a step towards fixing it.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purdah

[1]: https://www.dawn.com/news/1582117

Re: Truck Art in Pakistan (2018)

#67
post #7

I respect & appreciate talent of Pakistanis in art & music. They have some legendary singers. Not sure it is the language (Urdu) giving them that skill or they are natively talented.

Urdu is the native language of a very small number of Pakistanis, mostly the 3% of the population that descend from families that moved from India at independence, the Mojahirs. Punjabi and Sindhi are mother tongue to far more people.

As per the 1998 census, 7.6% of the population usually speaks Urdu in their household.

http://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/other/yearbook2007...

Re: Truck Art in Pakistan (2018)

#68
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Punjabi folk is quite beautiful. Sufi music is great, and the lyrically it's profoundly beautiful. For someone who's new to it I think Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is good gateway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0gND07edEI And for something more poppy, Nazia Hassan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7zm5XTvIT8

I'm a big fan of Nasreddin stories, so could someone please give me an ELI5 condensation of the role of Sufism within wider islamic thought?

It's basically just people who go deep on the spirituality part of religion, with very intense prayer and meditation, very focused lifestyle, etc. Religiously they generally adhere to the mainstream schools of Islam and consider themselves part of the wider religious community.

The more recent movement of Salafism, centered in Saudi Arabia, has made Sufism one of their targets in their quest to 'clean up' Islam, since it doesn't fit into their back-to-basics view on religion. So there is quite a big schism now between this movement and its followers, and the general community (for whom Sufism is an ingrained, and often treasured, tradition).

Re: Truck Art in Pakistan (2018)

#69
post #7

I respect & appreciate talent of Pakistanis in art & music. They have some legendary singers. Not sure it is the language (Urdu) giving them that skill or they are natively talented.

It's because the Mughal Kings who ruled most of the Indian subcontinent for a couple of hundred years really promoted art and music (instead of science and technology, I might add). https://www.thefridaytimes.com/where-the-mughals-got-their-m...

Ironically, few past leaders were barely able to speak eloquent Urdu. Pakistani elites grew speaking English. Khan can barely speak his own Pashto, and only so, so Urdu.

Re: Truck Art in Pakistan (2018)

#70
post #55

An American trucker recently told me trucking is 90% about looking cool. Apparently in the US and Canada, brands are heavily segmented for cultural reasons. Large fleets buy modern, streamlined trucks from Volvo and Freightliner (Mercedes) to save on fuel, while self-employed truckers buy Peterbilt and Kenworth that look like they haven't changed since the 70s. Though the latter have the added benefit of fewer breakd…

Latching on to your comment; I wanted to say, US truckers (and car culture as a whole) do some extravagant stuff with their vehicles as well. Airbrushing, lots of chrome and lights, etc. Mind you, a lot of that is still within reason as they're used daily for work.
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