I had always wanted to learn to drive. The feeling just got stronger with age. My first experience of driving was in my dad's car. I had gotten myself enrolled for a course where a person from the driving school would come in his battered car every morning for an hour and a half lesson.
After about 7 of these classes I assumed I had learnt to drive. One evening on our way back from a temple I decided to lay my hands on my dad's car. There was a driver who said he would take care if anything went wrong. My dad decided to move back , I occupied the driver's seat and the driver hopped into the passenger's seat.
I could sense the tension in the car as Mr. Father started perspiring and Mrs. mother started praying. I turned on the engine and luckily it was a smooth start- which is supposed to be the most difficult part. I made my way through the traffic while closely missing a few things on the way which only my father noticed. There was this constant 'watch out!!!'; 'be careful!!!'; 'slow down!!' and a lot of huffing and puffing in the rear seat!!
Well I managed to cover most of the distance and the destination was very close that's when a scooter fellow decided to brush past me and lose his balance. But luckily he put his foot down before biting the dust!
There were a lot of people who had gathered and were giving me advices that I didn't think I needed. And Mr. Father - well he was fuming and frothing. He jumped out of the car not to check if anyone was hurt but to see for himself if the car was scratched!!
Till date I firmly believe that God was on my side for the car was unhurt and so were the people involved. That day marks the end of my first attempt at driving!!
Determination thy name is Roy or so I would like to believe because I did manage to learn driving and have been driving safely for the past two years now. Irrespective of the proud feeling that I experience every time I turn the ignition on and drive away to work - I wouldn't call myself an expert. But yes, one thing that I know for a fact is that driving doesn't drive me [ or Mr. father , for that matter ] crazy any more!!
1 comment:
seriously.. my driving start was like this.. i learnt with the TATA people in pune and took the test.. put the sumo in 3rd gear and stalled thrice.. took the test again a week later..drove ok for 5 mins but the instructor still flunked me.i gave up.. didnt drive for 4 years.. got posted to SA. before i left enrolled with maruti guys.. now i drive 160KMPH on the highways here and have driven 10 diffferent models including automatics.. and it feels super..
Post a Comment