Blow Horn

In other countries I've visited drivers honk their horns when they want someone in traffic to move along or if they want to express their annoyance at another driver and occasionally even a pedestrian. How long a driver leaves their hand on the horn is a measure of the level of their aggravation.

When my family lived in Budapest, the horn in our Volkswagen stopped working one day. For the remaining 3 years that we lived there, we didn't get it fixed. We never needed the horn.

In India it is not only not frowned upon to blow your own horn, as a driver you are expected to do so. It is considered to be courteous to honk away and let the vehicle ahead of you know you are on approach and about to overtake them. Many trucks have 'horn please' or 'blow horn' painted in large colourful letters on the back of their vehicle.

With the horn allocated to politeness, how are annoyed drivers supposed to get any relief? In Delhi their answer is to drive faster, erratically, shout, gesticulate or get violent. Road rage is sadly far too common in this city.