Vehicle Horn holds a very special place in Indian culture. Almost all trucks, buses and some cars, have 'Sound Horn' or 'Horn OK Please' painted on the rear of the vehicle.
One thing which the foreigners always get amused when traveling on Indian roads is overwhelming use of Horn. In western countries, Horn is used very sparingly and when used it usually means someone is irked by other drivers on the road. In India, if you want to pass, or if your are close to vehicle or animal or human being, you have to sound your horn to let them know that you are passing at high speed and that if they don't move, they will get hit. With the amount of traffic, horns are sounding constantly if you are near any road.
I recently found the origin of 'Horn OK please'. In olden days the trucks were run on kerosene engines in India. Kerosene being highly unstable in nature would cause the trucks to explode at the slightest accident. Hence a warning would be painted on the back saying 'Horn Please,On Kerosene'. Gradually this became a norm and is still seen on most trucks even today.
People are getting innovative with Horn sound designs. These days I see Horns sounding like Dog Barking, Bird sounds etc. Trains have their own style of Horns in India. Very often, it is easy to recognize the type of train engine i.e Diesel or Electric just by listening to its Horn.
I noticed truck and Bus drivers especially traveling on long routes have developed a form of language using Horns to communicate with other drivers on the road. They use it to know if its safe to overtake now, thank each other, abuse other driver etc.
It remains to be seen, how many more Horn innovations are in store.
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