What made you wonder if they were all Brahmins, given you don’t know anything about Hinduism? And how does driving in the middle lane feature in your thoughts here?
I do know odd unconnected things about Hinduism that I've picked up from doing a bit of research for my job, which involved some off-shoring. I don't truly know anything as I've not made any sort of sustained research into it or talked to a Hindu about it, it's all just hearsay.
However, I did do a bit of research into the caste system to look into how it works and what relevance it has to people from India today. As part of that I read that the top Brahmin caste, which Hindu priests belong to, are very very particular about their personal hygiene and appearance, I presume so that they increase their dedication to their God. They have a belief that they should avoid defilement by being as clean as possible so that they can worship their God better.
The people in that car were absolutely immaculate in their dress. Their clothes had the look of being well worn but at the same time very clean. One of them was wearing a sort of tweedy looking sleeveless jacket, probably made from wool, and yet there wasn't a single bobble on it.
The rest of their clothes were probably cotton, pure white, and again had no imperfections.
They all wore a curious headdress that I don't know the name of. It was bigger than a skullcap but had a vertical brim with a squashy sort of center, again made of pure white cotton with no imperfections of any kind, no loose threads or anything.
They were also almost immobile, not talking to each other with their minds on other things.
Based on that and the very little I had learned I speculated that they were Hindu priests, although they could have been going to a fancy dress party, I obviously have no idea as I was only driving past them.
I am now further speculating that a religion that believes in avoiding uncleanliness wherever it might happen could have decided that the inside lane is unclean and to be avoided. It is where the big trucks and coaches with their diesel engines belch out black smoke on a regular basis.
Just to ram home the point, this is purely speculation on my part. I was asking the forum if there are any Hindu members and if they could comment on this for me, I would be interested to find out.
I am NOT saying 'ooh look a the funny Hindus, don't know the law of the land, let's throw them out'. I am genuinely curious about their religion as my own religious education back at school was so shockingly bad. I am trying to learn so that I've got more chance of avoiding inadvertently insulting Hindus.
After all, all those guys were doing was driving in the middle lane when the inside lane was empty. Hardly endangering anyone, just a very slight, very brief inconvenience to overtake them.
This is where I find it very difficult to write on this forum because my tone of voice and my facial expression are both obviously absent yet, despite being as careful with my words as I can, I often don't convey what I actually mean.
