My bike has a very loud horn. And as Spiderman’s uncle had sermoned, with a loud horn comes a large responsibility, or something like that. I make sure that I don’t honk too much while driving. In fact, i’d done entirely without a sound horn for almost 6 months earlier – it was more forced than voluntary because I didn’t want to replace the battery when I was running low on cash and didn’t have a job yet – but that is a different story. The point is, it is possible to not have to honk.
So what exactly is the #nohonktoday project? I will consciously count the number of times I honk when driving, and post #nohonktoday at the end of every day I manage to do without any honking that day at all. Simple, isn’t it? But why exactly do I want to do this?
- It’s hard –
- Improve my swearing skills –
- Improve patience –
I drive about 12km one way everyday. And this is on Hyderabad’s roads. As anyone who has been here would acknowledge, driving in or riding in a vehicle here is the closest you can get to a roller coaster experience in India. Or a near death experience – depending on which way your adventure antennae are bent. Bikes, cars, buses, autos, trucks – they all weave, swing and almost do a dance in the high speed traffic (that is, when you are not in a traffic jam). And there’s honking instead of applause to accompany this dance. Driving here without complimenting some of these dancers (by honking of course!) is a little unfair to their skills and heartbreakingly hard!
Having worked at a conservative corporate for quite some years earlier has made me rusty with my swearing. Gone are the days when in college we used to start with a swear word, end with one and have one more thrown in just to balance both. If I cannot honk, I can – rather, Will have to swear right!
I can swear, but will it help? Not really – so i’ll eventually improve my patience hopefully. I guess it’s a good thing to have some patience. We’ll see.
That’s it actually. I have been doing a trial run since last week and now that i’m declaring it, i’ll hopefully stay more motivated in getting as many #nohonktoday posts as possible. And hopefully these will also make my blog look a little more active :).
Picture courtesy – flickr
Ajay Reddy
Ajay Reddy