Why do we Indians love to honk?

H-O-N-K…It’s still ringing in my head, keeping me awake and goaded; it was all I could hear (especially today) while travelling to work in the evening…

It was TRAFFIC and TRAFFIC all the way from home till Whitefield. Now when you are in a jam or in a signal and every "INCH" is covered with vehicles, why is it a few brainless uncivilised people HONK? Can’t you see, the vehicle in front of you can’t even move an inch?? Grrrr…More…

There was a speed breaker in front of us, a two wheeler rider moved slowly, when my intolerant driver starts honking (not once, but multiple times)…..C-R-A-Z-Y; what can you achieve in those few secs? It’s me who has to reach office on time, NOT YOU! Can’t you see a lady is sitting behind the rider with a small baby?? Grrr…

The signal just has to change to orange, when I hear a series of honking which goes on and on…. can’t people have enough sense to see once the signal turns green, the vehicles in front of them will obviously MOVE? Two wheelers just try to use all the small gaps to just accelerate their vehicle; their only motto to move ahead, blind to what’s alongside them…Why are these horn-infatuated people adding stress to their already stressed out day?

Am half asleep, as we make way through signals, traffic and honking….am really annoyed at what I saw during the two hours of my travel this evening. I assume it’s my sleep deprivation which added fuel to my frustration with all the noise since I have always lived here, I have always seen this traffic, grew up with this love for noise and still love this city! I just do not want to start my day with questions in my mind.

Please stop honking needlessly-pointlessly-inanely….I have already shouted at all my drivers for doing this and in vain! Phew!

Comments:

  1. frg says:

    I would stand on my uncle’s parked scooter and imitate sounds from the vehicle, when i was around 7-8 year old. I remember clearly, i would ‘honk’ a lot while ‘riding’ the scooter. I observed same behavior with my cousins and friends.
    I still see little kids ‘honking’ while ‘driving’ vehicles.

    Is it the way we are brought up?

  2. Jayaraj Velayudhan says:

    If I were one of the horn-infatuated driver or a taxidriver of Bangalore, I would have answered like this.

    Q:- why is it a few brainless uncivilised people HONK?
    A: – Because I am UNCIVILIZED!!!

    Q:-Can’t you see, the vehicle in front of you can’t even move an inch??
    A:- Can’t you see I can’t see?

    Q:-what can you achieve in those few secs?
    A:- What I achieve as an uncivilized guy is different from what you achieve as a civilized citizen-
    Why else do you call me an uncivilized driver?

    Q:- can’t people have enough sense to see once the signal turns green, the vehicles in front of them will obviously MOVE?
    A:- I only have “common sense”, which forces me to to honk when I see the Ornage. I must be educated and civilized not to do so, which I am not. I was driving tractors before I got qualified by your RTOs to drive Taxis. Do you have an education system which teaches me how to do civilzed driving?

    Q:-Why are these horn-infatuated people adding stress to their already stressed out day?
    A:- That is the mechanism by which I remain uncivilized in the society.
    In this way, I do not have to look in to the crime record of the candidates before voting for them to power. As long as they are in power I can honk.

    Finally – If you would like to take an advice, not mine, but of trader-philosopher by name Nassim Nicholas Taleb, please read the book “Fooled by Randomness”

    A good review is here
    http://www.joyfuldays.com/fooled-by-randomness/

  3. Rajangam says:

    It is true that we indians have a penchant for honking irrespective whether it is going to help drive. I have been driven to my office regularly for the past 25 years from Jayanagar to Old airport road. I once told my driver if he drives me home without honking once, I will give him Rs.50/. But to my amazement he simply told me that from tomorrow onwards I can find another driver . So it is in the blood to honk while driving. Rajangam

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