My friend Natasha is visiting India for the first time and emailing postcard-ready images of palm tree-lined beaches, rainbow-colored bungalows, and cows roaming the street.  But none of it conjures India for me like this happy, dopey painting from a slideshow of Indian street art compiled by graphic designer Meena Kadri.  I like everything about it: the pre-Renaissance perspective, the orangey colors, the girl’s crazy hairdo, and her mannish, moonish face.

The painter commissioned to make a sign for the roadside phone booth (they’re called, alarmingly, STD’s) that’s being advertised probably wasn’t given complete instructions but just told to make something attention-grabbing.  So he imagined this girl having a conversation with a friend.  The simplicity and exuberance of the message shine right through.