We in India use the same system for dates as you described, for obvious reasons. But I really don't like the pattern of switching directions multiple times when reading a date and time.

And as for numbers, perhaps it isn't too late to set it right once and for all. The French did that with the SI system after all.

> So apparently the original Hindu scripts were LTR

I can confirm. All Indian scripts are LTR (Though there are quite a few of them. I'm not aware of any exceptions). All of them seem to have evolved from an ancient and now extinct script named Brahmi. That one was LTR. It's unlikely to have switched direction any time during subsequent evolution into modern scripts.