"Please Honk" and Other Niceties on the Roads of India
Evan Saito
A Tuk Tuk standoff in Delhi – Evan Saito 2019
The sun was setting in Amritsar, a North Indian city in the State of Punjab, when I had my first encounter with the windshield of a moving tuk-tuk; a motorized rickshaw common to the streets of India. Though the incident left me uninjured (just surprised), it was a moment of learning during my first week of life in India. Just earlier that day, I had a riveting experience in one of those same tuk-tuks in which both the driver and I screamed during a near collision. At the end of the journey, we shook hands in recognition of our bond through shared experience.
Everywhere we have traveled this semester, I have been intrigued by the unique rhythm of driving that I’ve witnessed. From Delhi to Dharamshala, sometimes it can feel as though there is a certain serenity to the chaos of traffic. I was born and raised in Massachusetts, a state infamous for its drivers and their tempers. Our experience here in India has been different because, among the horses, goats, cattle, pedestrians, and trucks, etc. that share the roads, there is a frank yet gentle method to the madness.
It was in Delhi that I first noticed the style of painting on the outsides of trucks and many other vehicles. Trucks are colorfully decorated with images of flowers and deities. Additionally, a common phrase on the backs of the trucks is the line “please honk.” When I asked our program coordinator Damchoe Lak about the phrase, he explained to me that in India, the expectation of the drivers is that everyone honks to let each other know that they’re there. In fact, Damchoe lak explained that if there is an accident, the driver involved will often ask, “why didn’t you honk?”
"Blow Horn" in Himachel Pradesh -- Evan Saito 2019
As I reflected on this expectation, I began to think about the cultural meaning of a honk from a car. In my experiences on the roads of the United States, although there is a variation of length and volume, I’ve found that the sound of a honk often delivers messages of insult, conflict, and displeasure. On the other hand, the common use of a honk as I’ve experienced it in India is a practical signal, to inform the other drivers of a passing maneuver or an announcement before turning a corner. That isn’t to say that I’ve never seen a driver honk out of anger here, but I’ve found most expressions of road rage to manifest themselves out the window of the car and face-to-face.
Expanding on this dynamic, although I’ve rarely witnessed drivers in India operate at the speed limit as marked on road signs, the drivers seem to operate with sensitivity and opportunism to the operating speed of the other vehicles on the road. Additionally, I would confidently posit that some of the most skilled driving I’ve ever witnessed is here in India. I was particularly reminded of this in October during our trip to the mountainous Spiti Valley. As we were making our way down winding cliffside roads (which a few hours earlier had been widened by dynamite blasts), Vipin, our driver maneuvered the large van over those roads with a calm focus which did volumes to ease my nerves.
Turning back to that evening in Amritsar, I take full responsibility for my unintended contact with the tuk-tuk. This is because of the cultural shift that I was experiencing from roads in the US where I could expect the rules of the road to be orderly as dictated by road signs; in turn, allowing me not to pay as much attention as I made my way down the side of the street into oncoming traffic. In turn, I found a road culture with its own unique style of communication. In my mind this begs the question: are the roads of India chaotic? Or am I the element of chaos, introduced into an otherwise orderly and functional system?