This is an addition to the story about Horns.
Last week we travelled to the cathedral with the Hostel girls for a special service for Lent. I discovered a new job, Indicator Man.
We had to travel in peak hour which is a daunting and slow experience. On a large bus it is fraught with danger as motor cyclists with a death wish see how close they can ride. They are obviously unaware of the fact that where they ride the driver has no visibility of them.
Daily, local newspapers recount accidents and fatalities where motorcyclists are hit by buses and trucks.
Indian Buses generally have no doors. This allows passengers to jump on and off at will without the bus actually having to stop in traffic. It is quite an art form, especially when the bus is travelling at pace and a passenger leaps from the back door, legs pumping frantically, careering across three lanes of motor bike riders to the safety of the footpath.
On the school bus there is added safety as it has a half door.
There is a person (Indicator Man - pictured) whose job it is to hang out the door and signal to all road traffic when we are turning left (For countries that drive on the RH side please insert ‘turn right’). He is equipped with one of the loudest whistles I have heard which, while holding on with one hand and leaning out as far as he can, he blows incessantly while waving to other drivers indicating what the bus's intentions are.
The bus is equipped with normal indicators but in India these serve no purpose on moving vehicles and are generally ignored.
PS I was going to call this job ‘Human Flasher’ but changed it after some strong counsel from Lynn
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