Mera wala colour

The colour code of cars can be a curious pointer to the way the automobile industry has evolved and expanded in this country. First it was just black,white and that peculiar hue that we call off-white of the Ambys and the Fiats that mostly lumbered on our roads. Then Maruti brought in its shocking red. With more car companies driving in,we got and got used to blues and yellows and such neologisms like that dubious,much-loved shade in India called champagne silver. Yet there was a catch. You could not paint the car the colour of your choice. You followed the hue dikats of the company; if it had only midnight black and cherry red,then you painstakingly chose one of those two. You played with the interiors,added a sunroof,got some whacky bumpers even,but in that colour-predestined world,you could not coat it with a shade of pink or mauve. Now,maybe,you would be able to.

The ministry of road transport has proposed allowing four-wheel owners to change the original colour of their car. A draft cabinet note for amending the Motor Vehicles Act MVA 1988,however,will require the car owners to get the colour-change endorsed on the registration certificate. Along with this,the note also proposes doubling or trebling the amount payable for offences such as over-speeding and jumping the traffic lights moves meant to make the road that much safer.

What could change the roads in an entirely superfluous way would be the colour supplements,that mera-wala-purple offroader cruising by in custom-made hauteur.