Why people honk in India

My first few weeks in India were full of new things. New sights. New smells. New sounds. Particularly taxing was the sounds emanating from motor vehicles (everyone from truck drivers to motorbikes to auto-rickshaw drivers).

Honking. Everyone does it.

I sought to understand why people do it so much. Now, three months into living here, I came up with the following list of hypotheses as to why the Indian (and non-Indian alike!) has to be assaulted with the daily sound of a vehicle-horn. Please note the following is based on my own observations. Any resemblance to any traffic laws that may or may not exist is purely coincidental. ;-)

• One honks to signal that they are about turn left or right
• One honks as they are approaching an intersection to warn incoming traffic of their presence on said-junction
• One honks at the behest of signs such as this one above
• One honks to alert other drivers of intent to overtake
• One honks as they perform above-mentioned act of over-taking
• One honks on a curvy mountainous road to alert on-coming traffic
• One honks to shoo livestock off the road
• One honks to shoo pedestrians off the road (mind you, pedestrians have an equal right on the roads. As the sidewalks are usually filled with dog poop, humans take it upon themselves to simply walk on the roads, hence yet another reason to honk).
• And finally, one honks in place of the classic road-rage “I’m about to flick you off” gesture.

In other words, honking has taken precedence over all traffic rules. What I fail to understand is how on earth the average driver is meant to distinguish between honks. As in – if I were driving, how am I to decipher whether the dude/dudette behind me is honking because she’s annoyed at my driving or honking at the cow on the road...or honking to let me know that s/he is about overtake me?!

Let’s just say – I’m thankful that I don’t have to get behind the wheel and drive here!! I’m more than happy simply sending up prayers asking that the rickshaw driver won’t get me killed! ;)

Things I’m thankful for

“Black Friday sale!” “75% off deals” “Save..save..save”

These were just a few of the emails that landed in my inbox this week. Reminded me of another world approximately 10-13hrs behind my current time-zone. A world where shopping and buying and accumulating ‘stuff’ takes over the minds of every sane person.

I feel like I’m in an alternative world right now. I mean, as I’m typing this – there are children dying of diarrhea (a relatively simple disease with low-cost remedies) and there are people spending enough money on gift-wrap that could feed an entire family for months.

Living in India definitely has its ups and downs – I can’t seem to get past that. At times, I feel at home here. And many days I can’t wait to get out of here. I’ve definitely grown in different ways and alternatively there are things that have remained stagnant. But this post is not about the crazy thought-world of Devina. It is about the holidays.

While I feel like I’m a world away from the holiday season (India doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving – which marks beginning of the craziness that is the Christmas holiday season with all it’s commercial glory), I am also looking deeper to realize what the holidays mean to me.

While I have actually traditionally hated Christmas since I moved to the US, (I could write a whole another blog post on why!), this holiday season – I’m reminded of so many things to be grateful for. I’ll attempt to list a few here – in no particular order.

• My mother: I could write a book on her life and all the lessons that she’s taught me.
• My sister – my little sister is one of my best friends. Though we hardly talk much – the little Googlie bear is growing up fast and teaching me a lot.
• My life in the US: I appreciate the niceties in the US – living in India has taught me to appreciate even the simplest things like hot showers, clothes dryers, green salads and clean water.
• My friends – I have people in my life that I call my own at varying levels of intimacy. I pray for a lot of them on a regular basis and am grateful for them.
• The opportunity to travel – I have been blessed to grow up in a developing country, move to a more developed country and have an opportunity to go back to work in a developing country. While the upheaval with each move was not easy, I wouldn’t trade my life for anything.
• Ability to speak four languages – I’m SO grateful for my language skills, and ability to pick up languages, especially in India! It comes in useful when haggling with the auto-rickshaw drivers. Ha!
• Spices: I love to cook! Mainly because I love food. I’m lazy about cooking for myself – but love to entertain and have people over. Living in India has been in living in food heaven! I’ve been tantalized with every possible spice combination!
• Education: There was a time that I would have laughed if you told me that I’d one-day have a masters degree. I’m grateful for the schooling that I have received. Especially when I see how much thirst for knowledge is there in the people around me.
• My Lord and Savior Jesus: who continues to be there for me in spite of who I am. Who teaches me on a regular basis how to live fully, how to laugh often and how to love sacrificially.

I hope that this year's holiday season is a meaningful one for you – wherever you may be. Either sitting in cold wintery weather, or hot sunny tropical weather. I hope you are able to take a few breaths and step back from the commercialization that the holidays have become and look around you. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, ‘Whenever you’re faced with a doubt/difficulty, look into the face of the weakest/most vulnerable person that you may encountered. Ask yourself - is my next step going to benefit them or better their life?’. Things will be clear and you'll learn how much you really DO have..

Happy Thanksgiving!