It’s beyond ironic to think that President Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace prize. This, just as he makes the largest blunder in the history of wars and orders more troops to catapult an ongoing escalation into another decade of suffering. It has been the aggressive policies post 9/11 that have sharpened the dagger of Islamist terrorism in the World. The Iraqis, the Afghanis have already acted like a forest that is being burnt down in search of a target – sometimes a man named Bin Laden and at other times fictitious Weapons of Mass Destruction. To send more troops into Afghanistan at a time when America is still struggling under economic debt is creating more enemies. In fact this time, I think Obama is creating enemies out of his own American citizens who once believed in ‘change’ and now plead for health reform and more jobs rather than America’s 6th war since the end of WW II.

Artists, writers, news anchors, journalists, filmmakers, poets, trapeze artists and anyone else with a voice and body need to have their say and speak out. The cartoon above was published on Little Alex in Wonderland along with the eloquent and incredible Noam Chomsky‘s ‘take’ on ‘War, Peace and Obama’s Nobel.’ Michael Moore, the famous, talented attention grabbing documentary filmmaker wrote a letter to his president. Huffington Post carries this Open letter to President Obama.

Read it and go have a conversation with your Pakistani cab driver in New York. He’ll probably tell you he’s not planning on taking a trip back home this X’mas. Obama’s choices are creating an inferno of problems in Pakistan and the Indian sub continent. And with this surge, it’s only going to get worse I predict. Unfortunately no ‘Change’ for the better.

It’s nice to come to a foreign land and find that the taxi drivers speak your language! It’s a good feeling and as a documentary filmmaker I jumped to the chance of doing something with this observation. In 2007 I went out on the streets of Manhattan and interviewed Indian and Pakistani taxi drivers about what they felt about New York, how they came here, 9/11, the War in Iraq and the War on Terror.

I started my prowl with the camera at the famous ‘Punjabi Deli’ on Houston streets where you’ll always see a bunch of taxis parked. This is a huge omen of how good a place is. Similar to when you look into a restaurant or cafe and can judge how good it is by the volume of people dining or waiting outside. ‘Punjabi Deli’ has affordable food and it’s home cooked Indian food. My uncle in Jersey has been known to drive down, pick me up, take me out to a fancy bar for a drink and then head to Punjabi Delhi for food he describes as ‘dil khush kar deta hai’, literally translated to mean ‘makes my heart happy.’

So I’m rambling away from the taxi drivers and point. Eventually I made a short film titled, ‘Street Smarts’ which focuses on racial profiling post 9/11 and my short got selected to the Sikh International Film Festival.
I’m heading out to the venue now and hope some of you can make it. Take a taxi to Asia Society and tell the driver about the film. Who knows maybe he’s in it. Once when I got in a cab and spoke to the driver about my project, he’d seen my taxi film on youtube! Keeping my fingers crossed for some synchronicity in the city this week:)

I’m back in Bombay. The last time I was here was 2 months back researching for ‘The Taxi Takes on Terror’. I prefer Bombay to Mumbai, just like I think I might even prefer Mumbai to Delhi now. Many factors and feelings go into that comment, especially since I’m back in my country after a year and a half of being away. So I’m spending a lot of time socializing with taxi drivers. I recently hung out with Mohammad Sameen. Last time I was here he had dropped me home from Colaba and on the way recounted his experience of being at VT terminal when the terrorists opened fire. He unknowingly drove from one venue of attack to the next and could have encountered bullets at any point. This time when we met, he insisted on buying me a ‘cold drink’, synonymous with a fizzy soda drink in India. We drove around the Nariman point area and he stopped to show me sights as if I was his niece visiting. He pointed out the room at the Oberoi which had seen some serious hostage action. The room was like a big open wound amongst the other curtained windows. I could see workmen working inside under bright lights with cables dangling out the window. I took some shaky footage with my handycam. Zooming into a far away window without a tripod has to be shaky. That same evening I waited patiently while sipping a Café Mocha at a Barista near Regal cinema, looking out expectantly as if for a date. At one point a taxi driver standing next to his shiny black and yellow cab looked straight at me and I thought, this must be Sahdev Singh. I met Sahdev’s brother, Ram Singh on my previous visit and some of his prejudiced comments about Islamic terrorism intrigued me to take his number, which in fact turned out to be his brother Sahdev’s number. On calling I found out that Ram was visiting his village, but that Sahdev was also a taxi driver. So I decided to interview him, which explains why I nodded back at the man next to the taxi, picked up my coffee and walked out. I sat in the front seat with him and we drove around Colaba and The Taj. I told him about my project and asked for his help. But like many other drivers he seemed more concerned about making a living for his family than solving the matter of terrorism. He also was not too kicked about being filmed, a response that you rarely get in India’s Bollywood capital. I might be mistaken, but all the drivers I talk to, the majority of the Hindu drivers, seem complacent while the Muslim taxi drivers want to try to do their bit to remove misconceptions about terrorism and identity. One driver, Haridwar Gupta, even asked if I was Muslim. I had asked him if he thought it was right for the police to arrest 50 muslims only after a blast took place. When I told him I was bought up a Hindu he wanted to know what caste I belonged to. When I tried to explain how I think caste only tends to divide humans, he proudly told me he was a Brahman and that his son had refused to eat even an egg one time when the doctor recommended it for his ill health. So I continue to have conversations in cabs in search of the ideal taxi driver for my project. Someone who has experienced some form of terrorism, is chatty, likes to be filmed and wants to be part of The Taxi Takes. Tomorrow I hope to meet Sushma, a female cabbie who drives the Priyadarshini taxis in Mumbai. The second time we spoke she said she was working and I naturally assumed driving. But it turns out that this smart lady works as a graphic designer too. Maybe she might have some inputs to give for the title stickers I plan to get made for the back window of a Mumbai taxi. My inspiration is the incredible taxis you see on the street strutting around like adorned and embellished elephants at a colorful Indian wedding. The Creative Review team had a similar idea for their April issue cover. On my first trip I met a charismatic and intelligent young taxi driver, Jamid Ali. He had already been on Meter Down and it was thanks to Kabi that I met him. It was on our first meeting itself that I decided to take out my camera and test the concept and my equipment for this project. Here I’ve edited a short clip from the footage I shot with him and his passengers. The second clip I am working on also features Jamid Ali and the focus of the conversations is ‘Jihad.’ Jamid Ali pretty much came up with the questions on his own after I told him what my project was about. He asked his passengers what according to them is the meaning of ‘Jihad’ and if there is a link between terrorism and religion.