Auto drivers showcase their creativity through poetry on their autos

Vikas Gorur and Kaustuba Venugopal, 33 year-old software engineers started their Instagram page ‘PoetryAuto’ dedicated to posting images of auto rickshaws that feature catchy captions and poetic expressions. Mostly in Kannada, these couplets and poetry are thought-provoking, yet entertaining. “Most of us have definitely observed these statements on the back of vehicles, especially on autos. They are extremely funny and some that we all can relate to, particularly the ones that talk about love failures,” laughs Vikas. This gave them the idea to begin their page on Instagram two years ago. He continues, “Some of these poems are very complex, sophisticated and clever. I have noticed them for over 15 years. They are like the memes of the offline world. Kaustuba and I met the people who put these stickers on autos, and some drivers get them painted as well. We learnt that quite a few poems are actually written by the auto drivers themselves.” Kaustuba further explains, “We first started the page as a joke, but the more pictures we collected and posted, we received more insights. Many of the auto drivers know what statement or poem they want before they opt to put it up on their vehicles. It’s similar to how we get our tattoos done,” he jokes. Although it may give a good laugh, the poetry they share is solely to praise the creativity of the auto drivers. He adds, “We noticed that most these poems are related to the age of the auto drivers. A young auto driver tends to share poems that speak about love and love failure, while an older person has poems that talk about money and mother’s love.”
Though all of them are not ‘poetry’ concentrated, it also includes different genres of creativity such as dialogues from famous movies. Since their page is accessible to everyone, they translate the poems in their caption. Kaustuba, who had previously lived in Delhi, explains, “I have not come across such strong poetic expressions in other cities and neither did Vikas, who had lived in Mumbai. Since we’re Bengalureans, and we know Kannada, it is easier to annotate what is being said. The rhyming scheme and the essence is lost in translation, but we try to keep it as true to what the Kannada version tries to convey.”

Most favoured auto poetry topics
Love failure
Mother sentiment
Adulation to popular heroes

“Father is always asking me how much I earn, wife wants to know how much I’ve saved. It’s only my mother that cares to find out if I have eaten at all. Oh mother, who is your match?”


“Master of love. Karna in generosity One in a million Kadamba Kannada patriot ‘Gallant Lion’ ”


“Form a government for a day, sunshine’s for my making hay. A crore for you Mr. Minister, if you’re poor you don’t even register”

Both Vikas and Kaustuba also composed a poem of their own and wish to see it on an auto someday.

“If you succeed in love, keep your lover safe. If you fail, keep your liver safe”


A few other interesting little poems on Bengaluru's auto rickshaws...




- By Ananya Shankar