Kolkata’s yellow taxis are time trickers. There are memories of lesser vehicles, more time more pedals, every dent on their body, every fred seat cover from one end of the city to the other.
Once, the roads in Kolkata went into a stubborn rhythm of their yellow ambassadors. Today, as these icons slip into memory, they are being called back as ships of history. The year 2025 Asian Paints Sharad Sheman’s 40 -year points, an award, since 1985, has honored the most inventive Durga Puja pandals in the city. To mark milestones, Asian Paints have launched Cholt Cholt 40, a project that resumes the taxi as a moving chronicle of the city’s heritage.
Each of the 40 cars embodies the cultural pulse of decades artically. Currently, 22 out of 40 taxis are ply in Kolkata like any other yellow taxi and are not limited to any specific route. The remaining 18 will be on the roads by 10 September, and by September 11, all 40 taxis will detect the length and width of the city.
The taxi part of Cholt Cholte 40, a project that re -connects the taxi as a moving chronicle of the city’s legacy. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The taxi project makes the first tested idea in 2023, when a tram bogie was converted into a moving gallery showing the artistry of Durga Puja. That tram stitched together AlponaSugarcane crafts, the decorated reality, and the story in a living work of museum style art. The taxi takes this gesture from rail to roads, from fading tramline to yellow cab.
Amit Singgal, MD and CEO, Asian Paints, explains why the taxi was selected. He says, “Whether it is the family going on the Pandal trail, the artists carrying their straw and soil from Kumartuli, or the judges who found their way through the city, were integral to the taxi Kolkata. Everyone works through a yellow taxi. Forty taxis become living props.
A taxi part of Cholt Cholte 40, a project that resumes the taxi as a moving chronicle of the city’s legacy. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Four taxis were unveiled at a recent festive program at JW Marriott Hotel in Kolkata. Cuisted by city artists, the bodies of vehicles were alive in the context of the rock-band years of Kolkata, the era of simple, traditional priests, their development in environmentally conscious subjects, and finally, in the context of the age of digital icography and social media.
Adding this rich tapestry is inf Paris X Calcutta Collection (a line of wallpapers and textiles for Nilaya by Asian paints in 2024). Hiranbagh recalled the shameless Kashmiri Shawl sold in Mughal Garden, Jamshed Jamwar, Bengali homes. Rajbari Inner, India heaven, company school art vegetation, and company Paisley, colonial era paasley adaptation.
A taxi part of Cholt Cholte 40, a project that resumes the taxi as a moving chronicle of the city’s legacy. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Four decades
The first decade (1985–1995) was presented by artist Bikramjit Paul. The art on the body of the taxi shows an elderly artist while carving Ma Durga’s face, and the rickshaw finds a place on the portrayal of Dhakis (traditional drumors). Artwork also spotlights a woman who makes a woman Alpona Or Floor Painting and Sharad Shaman’s first advertisement poster from 1985 edition Anandbazar Patrika,
The second decade (1995–2005), Meenakshi mixes social comments, history and philosophy in the eyes of Sengupta. The floral designs of LED lights from Chandanagar are drawn on the roof of the vehicle, a red and white sari’s image of Ma Durga, sits away on its traditionally on the bonnet, a panorama displaying the tram, staple roll shops of Kolkata, balloon sellers, for the laughing of the laughing, for the beginning 2000.
The taxi part of Cholt Cholte 40, a project that re -connects the taxi as a moving chronicle of the city’s legacy. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The third decade (2005–2015), illustrated by Sion Mukherjee, the boulder developed with a depiction of Ma Durga with rebel locks of hair dominating the roof of the taxi, which breaks up the mold of women empowerment and large, more traditional, illustrations of women. The introduction of the Sharad Shaman Award for Srisha Statue Shilpi (Best Idol Maker) is depicted on the bonnet, while a portrayal of NRI has been welcomed. Embodied on the sides of the vehicle
The fourth decade (2015–2024), which was explained by Suishti Gupta, came to light in the digital age. The pandals found a digital house on Instagram, and the abstract cultural heritage of UNESCO as the recognition of 2021 Durga Puja sealed its global status.
The ambassador that embodies these changes is bizarre and a pandal hopper has the facility of motifs like clicking on a selfie, a woman who is to see Durga Puja pandals, etc. wearing a virtual reality (VR) headset.
A taxi part of Cholt Cholte 40, a project that resumes the taxi as a moving chronicle of the city’s legacy. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Cities forget, re -reconstruction in cities. But Kolkata, as usual, finds ways to remember. And so yellow taxi, battered, dying, returns as the city’s timekeeper. There is a pulse of worship in its disappearance, hide the map of 40 in its yellow color. It goes on – claatering, stunning, missing until the last taxi disappears, and still, it will survive.
Published – September 10, 2025 03:53 PM IST