An American woman living in Bengaluru has gone viral after sharing a humorous explanation of the city’s honking etiquette. The woman, identified as Dana Marie, posted a video on Instagram where she broke down the different meanings behind various car horns, adding her own witty commentary.
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Breaking down the honks
In the video, Marie is seen driving a car as she explains, “Single horn just letting you know that I’m here. Okay, then we have a medium horn. You know, like this. Means like, bro, what are you doing? What is that? Get out of my lane. And then in Bengaluru, after the medium horn, we like to add, like, a descriptor. So people like to roll down their window and just, like, kind of yell at each other for a while about what went wrong. Double horn means I’m going to pass you. A bunch of short beeps in the middle mean, hey, stop or pull over, because I want to talk to you. Okay, and then we have the longest one, which is more like this, with a slamming on the brake. Get out of my way right now before you collide into my car and we both get injured. Thank you. And then there’s the dipper, which is like when you flash your lights. That means I’m coming. Get out of my way. Without the horn. Unless it means I’m stopped here and I’m waiting for you to come first. It’s one of those two.”
The clip carried the text overlay: “Honking etiquette in India.”
Her caption on Bengaluru driving
{{/usCountry}}The clip carried the text overlay: “Honking etiquette in India.”
Her caption on Bengaluru driving
{{/usCountry}}Sharing the post, Marie wrote, “The Bengaluru descriptor where they yell out of the car window is only sometimes, definitely not common place, but I see it more than any other city I’ve lived in. So, I wouldn’t call it uncommon either. I see it most often after the medium horn because I guess the long horn seems to do more of the talking for people, lol.”
Recalling a recent incident, she added, “The other day, my cab driver was very soft-spoken. He was dressed so nicely, wore a tie, hair combed over. He had been on the phone for 30 minutes speaking so softly. Then, the next thing I knew, he was fully screaming at someone in a van next to us.”
Reactions online
The video received amused reactions from Instagram users who praised her observation of Indian driving. One user jokingly commented, “Give her Aadhar. It’s time, little one.” Another wrote, “Most polite explanation I’ve ever heard.” Someone else chimed in, “This is super accurate,” while another asked, “Who taught you all of this?” One person remarked, “Now you can apply for permanent resident of India,” and another added, “True Indian driving rule.”