Honking, the National Pastime
Coming to Bombay after an extended period of time, and you have a direct assault on your senses. And the biggest one, according to me is the noise pollution. Or specifically, the honking of vehicles.
It is incessant. More like a national pastime, or as if its some involuntary action necessary, like breathing on the beating of your heart. Its as if your life depends on it.
You dont honk once every 30 seconds, and you will have a seizure. If the period extends to a full 60 seconds, then its a full fledged heart attack. Anything beyond that and you shall die. !! At least thats my take on it.
Yesterday I am riding on Cadell road, an besides me there is a cab. No other car on that stretch of road. And the cab keeps on honking.
I had half a mind to pull up and give him a piece of my mind, but then i had to turn and so the cabbie went scot free.
They should now make it mandatory to manufacture cars in India without horns, and all existing ones, removed, and destroyed !!!
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After reading all this, I think you should feel at home in Lahore. Lahore’s just under Mumbai in world noise and environmental pollution chart, at number 3!
Welcome to the league and greetings from Lahore!
Did you know that Mumbaikars are trained to honk when they learn to drive? This applies to established driving schools also. They do have an insatiable knack for it that’s for sure. But heck, once I started driving in Mumbai, I stopped being a nice guy with my notion of being civilized, and went right ahead honking along at anything and everything. It’s a matter of SURVIVAL, because those drivers literally don’t even turn an eye when they’re making lane(Ur, I mean, reference of what’s suppose to be a lane) changes. The taxis are manufactured without the rear view windows on the sides, because everyone drive SOOOOOOOO close to one another. I mean, I could be playing poker with a passenger in the car next to me if such was my preferred pastime.
I think it was Jabberwock who blogged that one sure way to drive a Delhiite mad was to disconnect his car-horns. I guess the problem isn’t confined to Delhi. By comparison, my current city (Muscat) is heaven. In fact people look askance at someone who honks without good reason!
I had heard that Delhi Police had introduced fines for honking on Red lights, though I am not very sure how nicely was it executed, if ever, but it was a brilliant idea. I’m sure bombay needs something like that too.
Here is Pune, it’s even better. People walk on the roads, and don’t give a shit if someone’s honking.