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Drivers on the subcontinent fling their high-decibel horns carelessly.  On nearly deserted roads, they shatter the peace by announcing their presence a few meters behind you, actually announced two minutes earlier by the roar of their engines.  They honk at hopeless traffic jams.  In place of power to change road conditions, drivers substitute the bravado of a loud sound, hoping it drowns out their impotence.

Honk, honk, honk! (courtesy Pete)

Horns have been with us since the beginning of the trip.  We’ve always had the Japanese motorcycle horn, feared for its dissonant and terribly annoying chords.  The chords are meant to ransack your attention and do whatever necessary to make it stop (get off the road, drive into the ditch, lob grenades at the source of the dissonant notes).

The old taxis in Kolkata, on the other hand, blast melodious chords at you.  It’s no wonder the folks of that city are so unresponsive to these pleasant sounds, so easily confused with a church choir or Brahms requiem are they.

Most distinctive to the subcontinent are the bus and truck horns.  Not only are they inevitably the loudest, but they blast out multiple notes; they come close to playing short ditties at the traffic situations or pedestrians they are meant to correct or warn or banish off the road.  Some horns rush up and down part of the chromatic scale—like a crazed organist.  Others play simple melodies.  “C,C,B,C” cried one horn.  Others low more complicated melodies.  Sometimes I’ve heard the first few notes of a particular horn and prepared myself to hear the Star Wars theme song, or perhaps revelry.  Other horns tend towards Happy Birthday,

Thank you for bearing with me.  These words will never make it to the eyes of the drivers of India and Nepal.  Thus this blog is merely a cry in the wilderness, unnecessary noise in the universe, and a bluster I substitute for my inability to do anything else.  In the final analysis, I am little better than the horn blowers themselves.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 18th, 2008 at 4:35 am and is filed under Jim's Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.