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Journalism of Courage
Before Uber and Ola made the task of booking a cab easier, people had to go on the road and hail the taxis passing by. In Mumbai, old-timers have fond memories of going to their destination in the iconic yellow and black taxis, also known colloquially as ‘kaali-peeli taxis’.
However, the iconic cars are now going to be a thing of the past as the last Premier Padmini taxi was retired after finishing its 20-year span. Mahindra Group chairperson Anand Mahindra got nostalgic and wrote on X, formerly Twitter, how the iconic cabs carried “tons of memories”.
“From today, the iconic Premier Padmini Taxi vanishes from Mumbai’s roads. They were clunkers, uncomfortable, unreliable, noisy. Not much baggage capacity either. But for people of my vintage, they carried tons of memories. And they did their job of getting us from point A to point B. Goodbye and alvida, kaali-peeli taxis. Thank you for the good times…” he wrote.
“They may have been clunkers, but they were a part of Mumbai’s charm and nostalgia. End of an era, but the memories they carried will forever stay in people’s heart,” an X user commented. “Above all, the drivers were professional and honest. They knew the roads, went by the shortest route, by the meter (unlike their Delhi counterparts), even for the shortest distance and never overcharged the customers. And they were omnipresent across Mumbai. Adieu, black and yellow cabs, from Mumbai roads,” another person wrote. “Really will miss this and the red double decker a lot. It defined Bombay and also India in many ways,” said a third.
