Well, I know its been a while I wrote anything... just got really busy with my kiddos schools ( an entirely new phase in my life) and then, my driving lessons. Yeah yeah, in an attempt to utilise my anniversary gift(the new i10),... I explored on the most challenging tasks ever in my life:- Driving on Indian roads. Trust me, if one drives successfully on these zig-zag indian roads, you can be rated the best driver in the entire world. You even have the worst drivers, which explains why the traffic is so bad here. More on that later. I don't want to start my post being over-critical. :d
So, my instructor( who says...fooost clutch, then brake... which means..first clutch and then brake)... is having a hell time trying to reduce the speed on my accelerator. Well, if there's anything to be blamed, it should be the California roads I drove for more than a year. They literally spoilt me. When I told him about the minimum speed one needs to jet on the freeways there, he was more than horrified. He didn't say anything, but the next day.. I saw a change in the accelerator. He was apalled with my smartness apparently ( and sheepishly told that he changed it so that the speed wouldn't exceed 50kmph...) Disgusting!! ..you won't go that slow even in a school zone there... I shouted. But the damage was done already. And I had to compete with the bullocks here. Bollocks !!!!
So, why do I need an instructor when I already was zooming on the American roads?? Because of the East and West difference.
Firstly, I was going on the right side of the road and abused innocent people who were right in their own way. I then realised that I was going the wrong way. OK...point noted...
Secondly, the live stock !! Yes, I've heard of live bucks running in front of your cars in states like Texas... but here, the scene is entirely animal-friendly. You have dogs, goats, bussalos ( that's my younger one's version for buffalo...as he lisps for "f"..Thank God..he cannot use the F word so soon in his life..hehe.. ) and even monkeys here in BBSR (Maybe its because of the famous zoo at a stone's throw away...I hope I won't be confronting the bigger cats on roads. My kids would shreik with happiness, but its like a live safari am driving through!) God bless the animals.
And then, today.. there was this visit to the RTO for the learner's license. After a mere couple of hours waiting (I could have watched an Oriyan movie in the meanwhile instead of biting my nails) .. I was walked into a building meant for issuing licenses to the entire city.
License to break traffic rules,
license to run over a dog,
license to kill.
Ok..am going overboard !! Maybe, it was the red-painted wall which was hyperventilating me. But, I need to get used to it, being here for a while. The office was pretty ok, but there were about a hundred people in a hundred square foot room. Considering everyone had two feet, I wonder now if people were standing on one foot to accommodate the other. Phew !! The population!!!... why didn't our forefathers didn't know anything about family planning?? "Bhagwan ki den" was the slogan...and now India is teeming with people everywhere, making it more and more suffocated. Hmmm, now with the recession cropping up, more and more desis are also making way to the "janmabhoomi"... making it even more cluttered. God save the country !! Oh I mean, "Mera bharat mahaan" !!!
And, why didn't I mention earlier about the horn here? People sound horn each minute. Don't blame them, but you are the scapegoat when you try to reduce the noise pollution. The other day, when my husband (who was still accustomed to the american driving) got a small kiss from a motorbike... the reason he was told that he didn't sound horn at the right time. Lesson learnt!! Now, my husband is also one of the major causes of the already-exisitng sound pollution in India. His reason?? "I can't risk my car".
True... So, my instructor's only request is to press the horn as frequently as possible and to reduce the speed as low as possible. Both of which are seeming to me like gigantic tasks. But, I need to tune myself...if I have to drive on Indian roads. Best or worst... I am gonna master the indian 'gaalis'. Survival of the worst drivers......baby !!!
