On the wings of my recent Indian asphalt survey, and with the news of Tata Motor’s new uber-cheap Nano car, I’ve been dreaming up crazy things for Indian automotive: IndianTaxiWebcam.com, HornOkPlease T-Shirts and bumper stickers, CabbieWag.com.

Cabs are the petri-dish of developing India — and I’m obsessed with the untapped layers of human sediment that must collect on a cabbie’s seats everyday. I want to believe that with his job, a Desi taxi driwer must gain a great deal of perspective. Inside his bubble, a wave of change — evident in backseat necktie affairs and rearview mack-downs — is sharing cushions with the undertow of 4,000 years of steady tradition. The clientèle, like flotsam and jetsam (and jenkem), ebb and flow from his open windows and clapping doors. Surely, he must know — more than anyone in India — the true current of the developing nation.

See for yourself:

“HORN OK PLEASE”
Uploaded by flickerpix

Fine, I guess taxi drivers are silent. But at least they trudge along because the rest of India like-to move-it move-it…