Category: Our World

22 Monday eve at the Hudson Hotel, come grind to the Basement Bhangra sound of DJ Rekha.
The doormen are serious, so indeed do RSVP!

Our NPR friend Matt now lives in Kathmandu, a city of infamous congestion. But like all systems of seeming chaos, he notes that:

…another way to look at traffic here is that it depends on generosity and an understanding of some very subtle self-enforced rules. The fundamental approach to driving requires quick reaction, distance perception to the millimitre, and lots of horn honking. If you’re a motorcycle or a car, you honk your horn on average three times per block. But unlike back home, honking isn’t used as a form of aggression, it’s more a courtesy. Like the way waitstaff in a fancy restaurant would lightly touch your elbow and say “pardon me.” In fact pedestrians here get angry if a driver doesn’t honk, because it’s seen as wreckless. Luckily, not honking is rare.