The glam makeovers of Pakistan's tractors show how much farmers cherish them

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/02/11/ [login to see] /the-glam-makeovers-of-pakistans-tractors-show-how-much-farmers-cherish-them
There's a cache of Pakistani songs that celebrate the enormous tractors that are ubiquitous throughout the country, like this boppy tune by musician Mehboob Hussain Naaz, "I plough my field with my Russi tractor and then I meet you, my beloved."

These cheery, cherry-red beasts are known as "Russian tractors," which geographically, is close — they're from Russia's neighbor to the west, Belarus, which has been a global powerhouse of tractor production since Soviet days. Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko even gave Russia's Vladimir Putin a tractor for his 70th birthday last October.

These Soviet-designed vehicles are now an integral part of farming in rural Pakistan, where they've made many landowners rich.