Vignettes: a taxi ride through Pune

Young men and women laughed and sped along on motorbikes and stopped by the lean-tos and shops along the shoulder of the road.  Everyone seemed relaxed.  This taxi ride was much different than the frantic drive through Delhi's streets and markets the night before.  Suddenly he saw the parade of small children.  Four of them, marching down the busy road, all under the age of seven or eight.  And, they were led by a naked baby crawling down the street.  The girl, maybe five, laughed behind the baby.  No mother was in sight.  Cars and motorcycles and scurrying shoppers made their way around the baby and his entourage.  These children weren't like the exploited orphans who surrounded his car at every intersection in the capital, with their vacant eyes and filthy hair and clothes.  These children, led by a crawling infant, were in charge of the street.  It made him cringe and laugh at the same time.