Asia
Banyan
India's mountain roads
Safe tea thirst
Jan 6th 2011, 3:14 by Banyan
A FRIEND reports having seen the following sign as he approached a pass on a road in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu: “Danger! Beautiful View Ahead!” A giant version of the sign would go down well on the roads of North Bengal and Sikkim. In the Himalayan foothills, mountains are steep, roads narrow, ridges precipitous, bends hairpins, landslides common, potholes endemic and views spectacular.
The sign is also a reminder, however, of one of the unsung contemporary art forms of modern India: the composition of road-safety slogans.
The most popular form is the short rhyming couplet: “Do Not Dare! Drive With Care!”, “Caution And Care Make Accidents Rare!” Or: “On Our Roads, Don’t Overload!” Sometimes sense gets strained for poetic effect: “Blow Horn, Don’t Get Torn!”
Some signs offer sensible but rarely followed advice: “Leave Early; Drive Slowly; Arrive Safely”.
There is the occasional pun: “Safety On Road; Safe Tea At Home!” or “Reach Home In Peace, Not In Pieces!” A particularly scholarly instance: “Such Is The Paradox; On Our Roads Left Is Right!”
Some aspire almost to the level of philosophy: “Life Is Short! Don’t Make It Shorter!” My own favourite is “Better Late Than Never”.
All the above examples come from a recent tour of the northern part of West Bengal, and East and South Sikkim. Missing, oddly, are any of the anti-drink-driving slogans common elsewhere in India. Bengalis love Sikkim’s cheap booze. Perhaps the distilleries have some political clout.
And, continuing into West Sikkim, where the roads are equally exciting, road-safety signs petered out. Plenty of prayer flags, though.
(Photo credit: Irene Slegt)
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Spotted in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu:
Better to be Mr. Late than Late Mr.
My favourites from the road up to Darjeeling:
"Drive with care, make accidents a rare"
"Better to be a few minutes late in this life than to arrive early in the next life"
"Driving hurry causes family worry"
I grew up in Sikkim and the roads leading up to Sikkim from West Bengal are managed by Border Roads Development Organisation(BRDO). They are the brains behind these signs.
I remember a sign near my school in Bombay: "Speed thrills but kills". Not a problem, as that part of town was always clogged with traffic.
Saw this on one of the hairpin bends on the way to Nainital (a wonderful hill station in the Himalayas):
'Life begins at 40, make sure your speed ends there!'
These signs are necessary because Indians tend to be very irresponsible.
If they were more responsible, these signs would not be necessary.
Indians need to stop being so reckless and irresponsible, and need to learn to think and plan ahead.
The most cliched ones seem to be:
"Drink and drive, you won't arrive" or "Drink and drive, you won't survive"
"Speed thrills but kills".
My favorite road sign was spotted in Haryana. It has nothing to do with road safety. It says "Child Bear" in front of a shop selling beer.
Very endearing. A picture of this also became part of a email chain that went viral.
Although well meaning, these signs are (to quote) "Ships passing at night" as most drivers barely understand English. Could be a reason why India tops road accidents in the World.
Indians love rhyme and tongue-in-cheek humor so while maintaining the idiom, a switch to vernacular may just be more effective.
On a mountain road in the Himalayas -
"Be gentle on my curves"
Spotted several years ago, next to Bombay Airport:
Highway, not Runway.
@joski65:
One mustn't assume vernacular signs aren't present just because this aarticle and its comments discuss English signs.