So I was riding along Bendeemer Road one day when I saw this van headed in the direction of Little India.
I quickly whipped out my mobile phone to take a picture of it because I was quite pleased by the symbolism of the image/advertisement.
Why?
- The name of the company that owns this van is Sri Ram Exports Pte Ltd.
- The image on the van is that of Hanuman moving a mountain (click on the link and read the entire page to understand why Hanuman is moving a mountain).
- Ultimately, the story of Hanuman moving a mountain is supposed to demonstrate his devotion toward Ram.
- Whoever commissioned the advertisement wanted to portray the Export company in a similar light i.e. we’ll get your goods to you in good time even if we have to cross oceans to reach you.
That’s quite clever, right?
(On hindsight: yes, it’s clever – so long as my assumptions are correct i.e.
- For all I know, whoever commissioned the ad could’ve just done so without making any of the connections I mentioned above.
- Also, my knowledge of Hindu mythology is quite limited so I could’ve got the interpretation wrong.)