There is one common talent that every Indian possesses. That common talent is a musical talent that everyone has, irrespective of age, gender or geography. What is amazing is that people do not even take any training for this musical talent but it seems ingrained in them right from birth, which gets to be seen only after a certain stage in each individual’s life.
Do not scratch your heads in wonderment. All of you have witnessed this talent in others – your near and dear ones as well as complete strangers. The only problem is that no one wants to admit about this talent openly or acknowledge its existence within people they know.
This musical talent that every Indian possesses is the talent of ‘Honking’. Honking comes as naturally to an Indian as crying comes to a baby. No one teaches you, you do not practice for hours, there is no school to teach this to you, but yet you know it. You just know it.
In fact, a horn in an automobile could easily be one of the most important components for an Indian, who would get far more upset on the horn getting spoilt rather than the engine!
In fact, a sizeable number of people do not like the sound of the original horn that comes with their car and they like to get it customized which goes with their style and personality! As a result of this, customized horns are a big business across the country.
The reason I say that honking is a musical talent is because of the number of notes and the various scales that different Indians can churn out from this small device. The notes and scales differ from situation to situation, even if the person playing those notes at different scales may be the same individual.
These notes and scales can be used to convey every possible emotion that exists in a human being. One does not need any psychological tests to understand a person and his mood swings as a person’s honking style is a good indication of how he/she feels on that particular day:
- Someone overtakes you…you honk and show your anger.
- The music in your car is quite peppy, you express your enjoyment by blowing the horn exactly like the beats and as many number of times.
- You woke up late and are now rushing to your office for a very important meeting, blow the trumpet (in this case the horn) all the way through.
Happiness, sadness, anger, rage, frustration, triumph, hurry, sleep deprivation and many more such emotions can be expressed through honking in India.
This talent is so wide spread that the popular rhyme and jingle ‘If you are happy and you know it, clap your hands’ can easily be changed in India to the lines of ‘If you are happy and you know it, honk and honk’!
