Beyond the car windows

For most city drivers, the world outside their car windows is a distant and remote place. But many such coccooned citizens in fancy cars come face-to-face with the inconvenient reality everyday.

I am talking about the scores of women and children who frequent the traffic intersections in Chennai, appealing to those inside the cars to buy vehicle-cleaning cloth, ear buds, in-car fancy dolls and other assorted stuff.





On Independence Day, I saw this woman who was going from car to car, trying to sell miniature India's national flag displays. These are usually intended to be kept on the dashboard, a public show of patriotism in a land that has failed many of its citizens even after nearly six decades of independence.

It is always worrying that some of these women and their children might come in harm's way, as they keep flitting between vehicles and scurry off just as the lights turn green.