Fading Yellow

In Kolkata, yellow isn’t just a color — it’s a memory in motion.

Once the beating heart of the city’s streets, these Hindustan Ambassador taxis, so deeply woven into Kolkata’s rhythm, are quietly disappearing. Phased out by a 15-year service limit for commercial vehicles, they grow rarer with each passing year.

I didn’t plan this frame. I turned and saw the geometry—the layered yellows, the peeling paint on the wall and hood, the soft fog folding into the background.

As a child, I remember these taxis as loud yet regal. This time, they seemed to be looking back—waiting to be pictured.
Taxis in Kolkata don’t gather rust. They gather stories

After years of carrying lives and fragments of the city, they now sit faded, scratched, but still dignified. Like they’re remembering where they’ve been. Or waiting to be remembered.

I think that’s why I took the photo.
Not because they were moving, but because they weren’t.