Kolkata Taxi by Steven Kruit

The moment you get outside of the airport in Kolkata, in the south eastern side of India, you are overwhelmed with never ending lines of the “Calcutta Yellow Cab”. Hundreds of cars are on the outside parking lot.

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24 hours waiting. A full day waiting in the parking lot before they can pick up a passenger.

The moment you get outside of the airport in Kolkata, in the south eastern side of India, you are overwhelmed with never ending lines of the “Calcutta Yellow Cab”. Hundreds of cars are on the outside parking lot. Most of the drivers have been there “only 1 day, sir”, if they are lucky.

The cars are considered a classic to modern day standard, but in Kolkata they are a daily driver and an Icon of the city.The Indian company Hindustan Motors started production in 1958 and the car is based on the British Morris Oxford. With the spacious interior, strongest diesel engine, the durability and the easy mechanics, made it the favorite taxi cab for decades. The car remained in production until 2014, and is currently phased out by more fuel efficient and environmentally friendlier cars.

What caught my interest, besides the funny shape of the car, is the lives of the drivers. Most of the drivers come from an adjacent province called Bihar, known for its poverty. They take the 6 hour bus drive to the big city, and rent a car for a month, or longer. Since the rents are expensive, and they are here to make money, they work up to 20 hours a day, and longer if needed. Some of them sleep in the car, live in the car. In some parts of the world they call this “van life”, here they call it survival. Other drivers have a bed in a dorm, many of them sharing their bed with another cab driver and take turns sleeping.
In my ongoing project “Kolkata Taxi”, I try to document the last remaining drivers and their life.

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Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted. This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation.
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
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