By I attended my first driving class around 7 years ago. It was a theory class where the instructor taught us the various types of hand gestures that drivers used. Example:- extending hand for right turn or moving the hand in a circular motion for a U-turn etc. I call these hand gestures used by drivers as ‘driving mudras*’.
Even though I had learnt driving 7 years ago, I began proper serious driving, which cannot fit under the category of mere practice sessions, only 4 years ago.I would like to list down here certain driving mudras that no driving school teaches but drivers use widely worldwide.
- The ‘what’ mudra– This is hand gesture where the palm and fingers are placed in a flower shape pose and mouthing the word, “what??” This hand gesture when supplemented with the raising of eyebrows becomes more powerful. This is usually performed by drivers when the other driver incessantly honks at him/her.
- The ‘dead stare’ – Consider this: you use all your might to overtake another vehicle and you both meet at the next signal parallelly. What conspires between the two drivers until the red light turns green is what is called as the dead stare. This expression is not for the ones with a weak heart and only seasoned drivers perform it well.
- The ‘head nod’- I often wonder how those drivers who wish to take a U-turn end up on the farthermost left of the road…do they take the last moment decision to take a U-turn or do they have faith in the fellow drivers that all traffic would be paused for their one sweet U-turn. Anyway, this mudra or expression is perform by that optimistic driver in the vehicle at the farthermost left of the road wishing to take a U-turn; the driver makes a head-nod in a constant motion as if requesting or persuading all the drivers from the divider to the left to allow him to perform his sweet little stunt.
- The ‘four fingers and thumb in a bunch’ gesture – This is done when the driver knows it is not his right but all the same appeals to your ‘good-faith’ and requests you to allow him to pass. The fact that he happens to be coming from the wrong side on a one-way road is a matter of discussion for another day. The mudra coupled with a pleasing expression on his face does the trick. The mudra resonates with the Italians when they taste a good pasta.
- ‘Calling names’ expression – Even though this is not exactly a hand gesture or a mudra, I wish to include this item in this list. During my early days of driving, I was blessed to face this expression a little too frequently. It happens when you have almost caused a minor accident. The opposite driver dismounts his car and comes over to me. He sees me (being a member of the opposite sex) and mellows down his expression and the loud words are reduced to mumbling. This is what I call the ‘name-calling’ expression. I thank all those men who mellowed down their utterances for me- you have made a confident driver.
Happy Driving to All!!
*In Sanskrit mudra means gesture or mark.
