Honking and Bangaloreans

HORN PLEASE OK, Havent we seen that someplace before? Well if you have been anywhere near an Indian highway and missed this, you ought to see an eye specialist and a good one at that. That phrase succintly sums up what I felt this morning as I drove to work. It was an urge to honk and do so liberally, in fact I was being coaxed to honk.

Whats it about Bangalore that simply seems to urge its motorists to honk at every conceivable and inconceivable opportunity. One cannot believe the multitude of sounds one gets to hear on a regular basis if you just cared to step onto the road. I am not qualified to state if this is a pan-Indian phenomenon but it is certainly a Bangalore phenomenon.

So anyway, this morning I thought I would spend sometime analyzing the sounds if one can call it that. So even before I started to consciously start jotting down the points, I was jarred out of my reverie by this new fangled LPG auto, with what appeared to be a broken silencer and an equally outrageous honk which onomatopoeically goes something like "KKRRRRRR" or something close. Then came the twin masters of the Bangalore road rage (did I say rage, please read as race too!!) - the Toyota Qualis and the Tata Sumo. Vehicles from venerable automoble giants but for the common man on the street including many road users such as myself, the source of plain disgust. To be fair, the manufacturer is certainly not to be blamed for the bad driving practices adopted by most if not all of the drivers of these vehicles but the manufacturer can certainly be put in the docks for inflicting the honks from these vehicles (not the emission, the horn!!) on other road users. I dont know if it is scale F or G, but it is certainly loud. I wonder if manufacturers will consider providing for attenuators which cannot be altered or replaced for these vehicles.

So now I move on to the commercial vehicle segment which in India is classified as LCV for Light Commercial Vehicle - a 4 or 6 wheeler with a 1-3 ton carrying capacity or thereabouts and HCV for Heavy Commercial Vehicle - a 6 or higher wheeler with a 6+ ton carrying capacity. These vehicles ply mostly on the outer ring roads in Bangalore and usually sport what are known as "Air Horns" which despite restrictions on its use is the most popular honky in town.

And then finally, to the other segment consisting of the two wheelers and the modern fancy imported cars plying the roads. I cannot fathom this segment at all. Among the classes surveyed earlier, this would be the one class that can claim to a higher degree of education but when it comes to honking, this segment of road users appear to be the pits. Irrespective of whether these vehicles are driven by drivers conveying nattily dressed men and women to their workplaces, the honk is something we simply seem unable to control.

So many honks later, I decided I would lose it completely and just then was this three wheeler trying cut right across my path and I instinctively pressed by palm against the center of my steering column and out came this wonderful, high pitched "PAAAM" and my nerves were soothed. Boy it sounds good to honk. So say cheers to the Bangalorean driver and drink to the HONK. Many the honk live long!!