Sunday, November 18, 2007

Horn Musicians

We have all manner of pollution these days affecting our senses. Noise pollution is one of them which silently bothers many people (including the traffic policemen) with stress and depression leading to many diseases. Noise may be from moving vehicles, blaring horns and even from "music" played in those four-wheelers. Making noise is almost a habit and a fashion! We can notice many two and four-wheeler drivers simply honking horns usually for no sensible reason, in such a 'tone' (in Morse Code terms, using only frequent 'dashes' instead of a 'dot') that some big buffalo is standing right in front, forgetting that other vehicles too are moving ahead with them! Does this not look silly? Oftentimes, they honk the horn without even analyzing the availability of space for the other fellow to leave for him. They press the button simply because they have the facility! The horn is usually a loud one which always annoys the one in front and not the one using it. There are some countries where the the horn is used most judiciously because there, sounding the horn is considered an insult. But then, does this affect us people living among insults and having utter disregard to others?! More than real urgency, it is their restless and want-to-be-ahead-of-others attitude that prompts such unmindful honking. Since there is no punishment for these trivialities, I think, at best, the authorities should strictly instruct and educate all prospective DL applicants about good driving ethics and discriminate use of the horn which may greatly contribute in reducing the decibel level of noise pollution. There are so many good things that the authorities can do, but then who cares?

1 comment:

Lakshmi Bharadwaj said...

I agree! Especially in Bangalore. Here they do in 24 hours, always, even in major jams. They honk even if they know that there is no way out, they honk out of frustration, impateince, or to grab your attention! Maybe it's our tendency to enjoy a smooth drive. Everyone wants that. All of us want to drive along peacefully, without hinderance, and maybe some of us enjoy speed. But when movement is restricted and you face jams around every street corner, you get frustrated, and start honking! Some of them don;t even analyze the situation properly but continue to honk. It gets on my nerves, really.