A truck is to Pakistan what a Jeepny is to the Philippines. After the Second World War the American forces occupying the Philippines left behind hundreds and thousands of jeeps on this pretty island country. The innovative Filipinos turned that khaki hardware into a piece of art by painting gaudy colours and decorating the jeeps with chrome wheel caps, stainless steel horse statues on the bonnets, fancy steering wheels, colourful hard tops and comfortable seats. Jeepnies are now the most dependable and economical means of transport on the streets of Manila, picking and dropping passengers on fixed routes and at fixed fares. At the same time these vehicles have become the romantic symbol of tourism in the Philippines. The Bedford chassis has traditionally been the base of a Pakistani truck which has now been challenged by European hi-tech trucks and the Japanese Hino that boasts of "more power and a bigger chassis". Trucks are built, painted and decorated in five major cities of Pakistan — Quetta, Dera Ghazi Khan, Peshawar, Mansehra and Rawalpindi. Each centre has its own specific style and mark of making this unique piece of art on wheels. Only a connoisseur of the truck art can notice the difference. The trucks of Quetta usually have yellow ochre as the base colour of the body with motifs and patterns painted in greens, reds, browns and other subtle colours. The body and the bonnet of Peshawar and Mansehra trucks are hand-painted in flashy colours but the rest of the decoration is done in plastics, chains and chromes. Dera Ghazi Khan trucks have paintings of flowers, fairies, mountains, streams, children and poetry in Seraiki language. The truck-makers of Rawalpindi, being close to the capital, portray the mood of the government in their decorations. The side panels are decorated with gaily-painted cut-outs of peacocks, F-16 jets and Shaheen missiles. The hot favourite for the back of the trucks painted in Rawalpindi are the larger than life portraits of Field Marshal Ayub Khan and film star Reema.
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