After 10 months of procrastination, I finally shifted gear to learn driving. I chose the so called "special" class. However, there was nothing "special" about that, except for the fact that I had to drive a useless Santro instead of the usual Maruti 800. My trainer was a bald middle aged guy. He ordered me to sit in the co-driver seat and started his interrogation.
"Sooo What are you doing-u?"
"Working in Satyam"
"Oh Big boy-ah.. Ok."
"Hmm"
"Now you want to drive ah?"
No, I came here to learn how to make idly and sambhar
I nodded my head anyway.
"Yes"
"Ok. In LKG class, you lerrnd. Yay fur Yapil, Be fur Bhaal, See fur Cyat. That is LKG okay??.. In Driving-u, you lerrn, Yay fur Akselaratur, Be fur Brayke, See fur Klech. Understand ah?"
I nod my head vigorously.
"Understand means repeat-u"
"A for accelerator, B for Brake, C for Clutch" I repeat, felt more like an idiot with every syllable.
"Layft leg on klech. You press klech and then put gear-u. And you release klech ah. 2 inches. Called-u biting point ah..okay?. That time you suloly STAMP accelerator ah. Understand?"
STAMP accelerator. Got it.
"Wo-kay! Now you are ready na. Come to this side."
I got out of the car and sat in the driver seat and took the steering wheel into my hands. I felt a strange sense of power in my hands.
I turned on the engine and in my excitement turned the key a bit too long, making the engine sound Vroooooom.
Instructor got tensed.
"Em babu, want to drive race ah? Sumal turn, SUMAL!!!"
The Santro was so useless that I had to put a bit of energy into pressing the clutch, and my instructor was shouting 'Push! push! push-ah! Full!'.
After finally pressing the clutch and changing the gear, I conveniently forgot the next step, so the car jerked forward about two feet.
"Akkselaratorr babu, you forget ah? Try again-u?"
I followed his instructions properly this time and managed to get the car running. The car moving gave me such a high that I forgot to take my foot off the accelerator.
"AIYYIYYO! Speed babu! Speed no! Speed sloww! Not drive so fast on first giyar-u. Brake-u brake-u."
I came myself out of my NFS dreams and got back to learn shifting gears.
I drove 4 kms for my next class (Because, on the first day i got chance only to steer). But I thought I did it pretty good, the turning bits specifically
("Aiyyiyyo! Left-u! Turn-u turn-u! Aiyyiyyo! Vegetable man-u! Horn-u okay, Beep! Beep!")
"Ok babu. You are fast-u. Come tomorrow, same time-u. Okay tata see you. Go walking-u slow."
"OK, bye" I said enthusiastically.
As I walked down, I could hear him mumbling something about his retirement.
I had a strong feeling that I would get my license very soon!
"Sooo What are you doing-u?"
"Working in Satyam"
"Oh Big boy-ah.. Ok."
"Hmm"
"Now you want to drive ah?"
No, I came here to learn how to make idly and sambhar
I nodded my head anyway.
"Yes"
"Ok. In LKG class, you lerrnd. Yay fur Yapil, Be fur Bhaal, See fur Cyat. That is LKG okay??.. In Driving-u, you lerrn, Yay fur Akselaratur, Be fur Brayke, See fur Klech. Understand ah?"
I nod my head vigorously.
"Understand means repeat-u"
"A for accelerator, B for Brake, C for Clutch" I repeat, felt more like an idiot with every syllable.
"Layft leg on klech. You press klech and then put gear-u. And you release klech ah. 2 inches. Called-u biting point ah..okay?. That time you suloly STAMP accelerator ah. Understand?"
STAMP accelerator. Got it.
"Wo-kay! Now you are ready na. Come to this side."
I got out of the car and sat in the driver seat and took the steering wheel into my hands. I felt a strange sense of power in my hands.
I turned on the engine and in my excitement turned the key a bit too long, making the engine sound Vroooooom.
Instructor got tensed.
"Em babu, want to drive race ah? Sumal turn, SUMAL!!!"
The Santro was so useless that I had to put a bit of energy into pressing the clutch, and my instructor was shouting 'Push! push! push-ah! Full!'.
After finally pressing the clutch and changing the gear, I conveniently forgot the next step, so the car jerked forward about two feet.
"Akkselaratorr babu, you forget ah? Try again-u?"
I followed his instructions properly this time and managed to get the car running. The car moving gave me such a high that I forgot to take my foot off the accelerator.
"AIYYIYYO! Speed babu! Speed no! Speed sloww! Not drive so fast on first giyar-u. Brake-u brake-u."
I came myself out of my NFS dreams and got back to learn shifting gears.
I drove 4 kms for my next class (Because, on the first day i got chance only to steer). But I thought I did it pretty good, the turning bits specifically
("Aiyyiyyo! Left-u! Turn-u turn-u! Aiyyiyyo! Vegetable man-u! Horn-u okay, Beep! Beep!")
"Ok babu. You are fast-u. Come tomorrow, same time-u. Okay tata see you. Go walking-u slow."
"OK, bye" I said enthusiastically.
As I walked down, I could hear him mumbling something about his retirement.
I had a strong feeling that I would get my license very soon!
