Blog Post
Mumbai's True Heroes. | 29 Nov, 2014 | Author: RARE - destinations and experiences
Few things are as Mumbai as the Kaali-Peeli taxi or the ease with which a Mumbaikar would hail one. And that Ola cabs should have an app to call for one Kaali-Peeli is surely a perfect strategy to re-instate what my daughters tell me that Ola is the most economical call-taxi around. Brilliant strategy, I must say. However my blog here is not about the Ola strategy, rather about the surge of nostalgia the particular hoarding brought out in me.
It reminded of some films and some books. It reminded me of rainy days and late night cab rides. It reminded me of times spent in Mumbai, Bambai, even Bombay.... times walking around the Gateway of India blowing careless soap bubbles in the air. Times when my brother and I and five other people stuffed ourselves into a Kaali-Peeli and went sightseeing. And much later when a chauffeured car was preferred over the Kaali-Peeli. And times looking out of my taxi wondering why the window won't go all the way down when all you wanted to do was to rest your elbow on the window and stick your head out !
And then Chottu ( Amitabh Bachchan ) and his Basanti ( a kaali-peeli taxi) and their long one sided conversations in Khuddar !! So this film had one hero and two heroines. Praveen Babi and a Kaali-Peeli taxi. Wait, I think Basanti had more scenes with Amitabh Bachchan than Praveen Babi did ! Such is the magic of the taxi in the city of Mumbai, Ola does well in calling these cabs as Mumbai's true hero. One look at how they are zipping about weaving through traffic, top condition or not, one of the reasons why many Mumbaikars reach work, airport, railway station or any other destination in time and you will not grudge the Kaali-Peeli the status of a Hero !!