The Indian predisposition for decoration is well known. Noteworthy are the micro-enterprises that spring up around vehicle customisation – from taxis to trucks to rickshaws. Not much escapes the painters brush, right down to the humble rickshaw mudflap.

The painting of rickshaw mudflaps forms its own specialised service and is most prevalent in Gujarat's Ahmedabad. Street-side painters like Bobby Solanki are keenly sought out for their skills in replicating Bollywood stars and scenes to grace this modest rickshaw fixture. Some drivers go all out and regularly visit Solanki to update their mudflaps and interiors with his exuberant paintwork. Others invest in such indulgences infrequently so are keen to sit and plan out the decoration in detail. Some bring movie posters and flyers, but most trust Solanki's sharp skill in painting scenes from memory of a vast array of stars and films.

While his son dedicates himself to more contemporary modes of decorations such as sticker work, Solanki keeps practising the traditional painting and enjoys the social nature of his job, with drivers hanging out at his paint-stand while he works talking about rising fuel prices, sharing anecdotes about passengers and remembering old films.

Other painters choose not to work on the street nor sell direct and instead stock specialist shops close to Kankaria Lake. A hub of customising enterprises has formed there which does everything from converting rickshaws into utility vans to re-upholstering vehicles. They do a fine trade in mudflaps commissioned from a handful of painters. They've even experimented with using digital images, but while these are easier and cheaper to produce that they don't sell as well as painted works.

 

When it comes to rickshaw customisation, old-school still wins over novelty, and in the corners of Ahmedabad the artistic flair of Solanki and the other painters is alive, and doing well.