The incessant honking on our roads is starting to get to me and I have been trying to think about why we Indians tend to honk so much. The primary reason, I have come to believe is that most drivers and riders use honking as advance notice of claiming right-of-way. If they see someone about to cross the road ahead of them, they jam the horn button and speed up. This is peculiar to India. In any other country, the usual response is to slow down and let the other person pass. In some countries of course, drivers would pull out a shotgun and blow the offender away. Fortunately, that kind of road rage is relatively rare in the civilized parts of India.
I wonder if this tendency to claim right of way and speed up instead of slowing down is a result of growing up in constrained circumstances. We are hard-wired to stand nut-to-butt behind the guy ahead of us in line, lest someone should cut in before us. And with waiting lists on the train bookings and a limited amount of milk available at the milk kiosk, this would mean going home empty-handed.
So there - honk away and claim your right.
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