India speaks 418 languages.
No make that 419. I just discovered a new one last month.
Travelling by taxi from Bagdogra Airport to the tea gardens in Dooars, I was looking forward to a quick shut-eye.
I was still jetlagged from a previous flight from London to Kolkata via Dubai.
But my taxi driver had other plans.
Beep-beep he honked as I was drifting off.
He was admonishing the car behind, for driving too close.
Beep-beep.
Now he was informing the lorry ahead that we were about to overtake him.
Beep-beep.
At a cow that wasn't even on the road. Kind of a 'I-see-a-cow', kind of beep.
Beep-beep.
Cursing at a traffic jam.
Beep-beep. Beep-beep. Beep-beep.
At a village girl walking on the field with a pile of freshly cut grass on her head.
He kept beeping till she turned her head and scowled at him.
Then he beeped with delight.
Beep-beep.
30 seconds after a stray dog scuttled across the road.
After. Not before. What. Was. The. Point?
Armed with this new-found knowledge and back in the UK, I decided to try this new language on fellow drivers on the motorway.
Beep-beep, I honked unnecessarily at a VW toodling along in the left lane as I overtook him.
Beep-beep, he honked right back, with a friendly little smile. And a wave of his hand.
