A cab ride into chaos

Dougie Wallace spent several months jumping in and out of taxi cabs in Mumbai, India, snapping pictures as he went. The resulting images are human, frenetic and crowded with life. They document the end days of the Premier Padmini cabs, which are gradually being retired from service by law. Here is the Glasgow-born professional photographer’s story — in his own words, as told to National Post writer Joe O’Connor:

You know how in some places everybody has a car? Well, in India they don’t. You need to be rich to have a car. So the taxi is their car. Everybody is always going somewhere, and it is often in a taxi.

At first, I would just kind of jump out at them, at traffic lights and busy junctions. It is unbelievably busy in India. But then I started actually getting in the cabs and shooting from the interior. And it is hard to name what it is about the cabs, but they are a little bit Bollywood, if you can picture what I mean. They are mad, and full of psychedelic colours.

Every cab was different, and the drivers had these really interesting faces. There could be 20 people in one cab and me, hopping in behind them, and it is funny. But not funny in a ‘ ha ha’ way, but funny and interesting in a way that makes you go, ‘Wow.’

The tires on some of the cabs, they were worn to the bone, and you could see through the floor of the cab, and see all the cables and things like that peeking through. The drivers are in them, every day, all day, so they are grimy. And there might be a seatbelt in the front seat, but good luck putting it on. You are going fast enough, but I suppose you are never actually going that fast.

Many of these cabs have been on the streets since the 1960s. They are slowly, the ones over 25 years old, being retired, and this is a key bit because some of the drivers actually own their car. But to get a new car, it is maybe like $6,000 — and there is no way they can afford a new one. So then they have to rent them from some big shot. It is an issue.

When I’d get a cab, the driver didn’t make it any cheaper for me. There was always a premium charged. But sometimes they’d forget, and I’d get the real price, if you know what I mean. I would basically give them a dollar, or a $1.50, and they’d go anywhere.

I learned a lot about haggling. They were also always talking to me about all the daughters they had.

Photos by Dougie Walace / Institute British photographer Dougie Wallace spent nearly a year documenting the drivers and passengers inside the taxis of Mumbai, India, capturing the chaotic energy of the city.

“It is hard to name what it is about the cabs, but they are a little bit Bollywood, if you can picture what I mean. They are mad, and full of psychedelic colours,” Wallace says.

The once-ubiquitous Premier Padmini taxi on the streets of Mumbai. The cars, introduced in the 1960s, are quickly becoming extinct after a 2008 law made it illegal for cars older than 25 years to remain in service.