Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Story of my 2-wheeler license.

After shifting to Pune,I realized that skill of riding two wheeler was more than a necessity. Pune being a city of two wheelers,lots of women with dacoit like masks riding two wheelers ;-) on roads was a common sight.:-) and I think this also inspired me to learn 2 wheeler ;-) ..

Don't mistake me as a novice in 2 wheeler driving ..I know a little bit of balancing act from cycling during my schooldays and after that ,my brothers encouraged(?!) me to learn moped .After gaining little confidence,I started practicing in our street where traffic was minimum ;-)...my learning session came to an abrupt halt when one of my adventurous cousins suddenly bumped on the pillion seat without my knowledge and I kissed the road with a thud..obviously my cousin escaped unhurt :-(...This event induced a deep vehicle phobia in my mind ,...

But again , after coming to Pune, due to necessity,I tried to overcome the fear and decided to learn ...when I expressed my wish to Rajendra, he was happy ( he always encourages me in my new ventures ;-)..) and offered his motorbike for practice..this suggestion sent shudders in me ..falling down from a bike can cause severe damage to my bones...;-) I strictly said a 'NO' to motorbike..(but it was very nice imagining myself as speedy John Abraham of film 'Dhoom',that's a different story..) ..

I decided to learn from a driving school trainer to avoid any other mishap which may further deepen my phobia..My driving classes also started and in 10 days I went to RTO with my mother in law for getting Learning license..I carefully memorized the traffic signals ;) ,appeared for the test and came out happily with the laminated learners license ,my mother in law hugged me with great pride as if congratulating a merit list student of board exams;)....

My course was about to end and my instructor gave me some tips,'Dos ' and 'Dont's to be followed when appearing for permanent license test.Hesitatingly ,I threw on her a silly question,"Can we balance with our feet on the ground while taking U turns during the test?",she got annoyed by my Q and quipped,"They may fail you! U have to ride in an 8 shaped track without touching the feet on the ground,Don't worry! Practice well and get the license..CU" This statement was enough to send me into high tension mode;)...
It was difficult for me to drive even in 1 shaped track .Riding in 8 track was just unimaginable..All day and night I started thinking about number 8..I decided to practice all types of turns and one of my dearest friends offered her scooty for practice,I started practicing in noons under hot sun to avoid traffic and accidents..;), I was driving around our residential complex some thousand times ,when security guards and others started seeing me bewilderingly ,obviously with this Q in their mind"Why this mad lady is doing pradakshina (circumambulation) of our society daily in hot noons?", I stopped this sunny ventures and decided to practice in early mornings and asked Rajendra to help me..He sacrificed his morning sleep ;) and accompanied me for my U turn practices..

We chose a particular stretch of 100 metres in the road where repetitive U turns was possible..Tough taskmaster he is..he made me drive sharp U turns so many number of times and at the end of each session I started feeling like a Stunt biker of Indian Circus who rides inside a huge metal sphere criss-crossing several times...Rajendra was very strict with me and (of course that irritated me ;-)..) he tried to make me an expert but in vain ;-)..I started getting nightmares of falling down on RTO 8 track and this made me even more nervous...Because of this infinite 8 track practices,I was afraid that my legs will take an imaginary 8 shaped track even in normal roads due to inertia..;) and we decided the date for the test and Rajendra decided to take half day off but added to my woes by saying that his colleague and his wife will be there for her test..How silly it would be to fall in front of office colleagues?..

On the D day we reached RTO well before time , many license aspirants were practicing in 8 track,Rajendra tried very hard to get the coordination of my hand signals and driving properly but every time I made a silly mistake and finally I got it right..Now I was thrilled to appear for the test and waiting for my moment to come..I was becoming impatient and excited to display my skills in 8 track..at that time driving school agent called my name and took us to nearby place ,( I was unaware that driving school students are tested separately ) asked me to stand in the queue,due to over excitement I stood first in the 'Q' near the ground and started searching for 8 track..there was no track..it was just a muddy ground..perplexed on the sight,a slight disappointment started seeping in my mind,,one of the assistants waved his hands towards me and I moved forward ,stopped near the RTO Inspector who was chewing pan casually and sitting in a slanting position making a 60 degree with the ground..First of all that pose irritated me and next major disappointment was absence of 8 track,assistant signaled me to start ..before I could ask him..he asked me to drive a big circle on that ground..so stupid..after so much of practice of 8s and U turns ...so humiliating...my anger cells started activating ,but hid my disappointment and rode that circle, I purposely made it as a big circle by extending the radius, ignoring the assistant's yell towards me to make it a smaller circle .Seething anger inside me was waiting to erupt like volcano..while riding back I could see beaming Rajendra's face(he was unaware of my disappointment) admiring my victory showing a Thumbs Up sign.. ..he was looking like an Olympic coach waiting for his athlete to touch the victory line..after finishing the silly circular ride I stopped in front of the inspector ,his pose had further dipped to a 58 degree angle which added to my anger..lazily he waved his hands signalling me to move and make way to next entrant..I moved and stopped the scooty in front of Rajendra ..He congratulated me..I was in complete tizzy state..,I was fuming with anger and insult about this silly drive and started " How many days I practiced for this 8 track drive,under hot sun and cold mornings like a mad person,but these silly fellows didn't even give me a chance to drive in 8 track.." I was continuing red hot..Rajendra's face also became serious for a moment ,but next moment he burst into roaring laughter on seeing my plight..his thunderous, teasing,laughter made him look like multiple villains (amrish puri,pran,nambiar sorts..) merged together and it seemed that he was enjoying every moment of my fiasco and helplessly I also had to join him in the laughter....For the next few days I stopped writing 8 even in paper...License ? I got it!...cu in next post!

Recent Update :- Recently I visited RTO. All license aspirants are asked to ride on 8 track for the test.No circular track :-) :-) Great! ;-) :-)

21 comments:

Prasanna's Pen Speaks ... said...

Are u driving now...u know PADMA I got my car license like this only...but without Raja s help...Certainly it is something grt to have driving license and PAN CARD IN LIFE...

RAMKI said...

i was there at pune when allthis happened rama

Padma said...

Thank u prasanna! and appa! for reading my blog!appa! still u ve not changed that 'rama'..:(

Raja said...

Heh padma..very hillarious post. I laughed my hearts out reading it..

Couple of things -

1. You should have asked Appa (our lovely 'rama') for tips...he got his license even without showing up in the RTO office
2. Your whole experience reminds me of Suha's car driving lesson. First she started her lessons with me on my car, only to see my true 'pal kadikkum valluvar' emotions show up for the first time! next thing, I enrolled her with a professional driving school..I did a lot of search on the internet to get tips about routes they have you take, and made Suha practice in the same route many times. My only word of caution to Suha was 'Please wait until the DMV (RTO) officer asks you to make a turn! and pretend you are driving on this route for the first time'...she got her driving license ..which is a must have in this land of more cars less pedestrians!

Padma said...

raja!our lovely 'rama'can write numerous posts on his driving expeditions:)..rajendra didn't pal kadichify..but was so irritated by my driving..result..till date he has not permitted me to drive 2 wheelers..now i have to try my hand in 4 wheelers ;)

RAMKI said...

rama continues once idecided to go for car i joined in driving school.he gave traininig in race course.i feel pity for him.i went to rto office for test. the office asst lady told dont worry u will get licence.all the people were asked to go to test drive area behind rto office except me .the officer called PRIYAVARE ottunga.the instuctor was with me.i took a good round and stopped near that officer.his ayyusy is getti.he asked to take reverse.i took reverse and stopped car .he told me to collect licence in the evening.then i engaged driver for 5 months he used to to learn good driving he will ask me to drive in all sandu bondu wher e lot of small hoses will b there.to airport to for u drive parking between lines reversing etc now i am ok appa

Anonymous said...

Funny article...I am still smiling ! :)

Padma said...

Thank u!sanju for reading my blog!

Nandakumar said...

After reading padma's driving license test and other's comments I feel that every body has loads of terrible experience abt first driving.I also have many but don wan to spell them as I give exclusive rights to Padma.The writings by Padma are good.Particularly it is sad that she was not asked to put 8 eventhough she had practiced it several times.Good narration.Keep it up.Keep blogging to entertain others.Avoid driving to save others.

Padma said...

Thank u kumar chittappa! for reading my blog;)..unless and until govt. of india requests me to reduce the population ;) iam not going to drive:)..even though i am prepared for that adventure ,rajendra is not! ;)

Unknown said...

Padma, Funny post as ever. Was that cousin of yours our dear Ramesh ;)? Vizlundhu vizlundhu sirichaen.
Rajendra accomodating husband pola! morning thukatha vituttu...

Pavam unga apartment makkal ;)

This new template is a little better than the old one.
- K

Padma said...

thank u kothai!s! u guessed it right! it was ramesh;-) while writing this post ,it was nice to remember our good old NTC quarters days...:-)..that street which we were treating as our ancestral property(english translation of paattan sotthu);-)..ok bye..keep reading my blog;-)

Rajendra said...

Padma,
I was the victim & the witness to all that happened.
Padma, pan chewing RTO inspector was like a son of the Almighty sent to earth only to enjoy himself.
And, do you remember the day when we went to the lovely lush green Army grounds to be shooed away by the guards:( :)). Your bofors looks did not frighten the guard :)
I want to share an incidence when I went for my 4 wheeler license. Our instructor (who trained us for 15 min before the test) asked my friend "How will you signal left turn". This guy took his left hand up in the air & started flying like a bird. The instructor got irritated & said" This way you will only end up scratching the Examiner's left cheek" :)
Dad's first ever lincense at the age of 67 is not bloggable.... It will be an epic ;)
Keep blogging...

Ravishankar said...

Padma unwanted struggle to get licence. You should have come to Mysore or Coimbatore , just by paying 200 Rs we would have got it.You need not put 8, &7 etc...

Raja said...

Rajendra..I would love to see your dad's license epic in this blog...

Suha's Blog said...

Hi padma akka,
I really enjoyed reading this blog of yours.I relished the humour and lighter moments in ur writing.I guess everyone undergoes this ordeal in their life at some point of time but the good part is when it's over,it's conveniently forgotten and when we look back at those memories ,we get to the state of mind where we r able to laugh at ourselves. would love to see u write more of these type of hillarious posts.
keep blogging.
Suha

Padma said...

hi thank u!suha! if u want me to write such posts ,then i have to join 4 wheeler driving now ;-) i know that it may turn nightmarish one for me and hillarious for others.;-)
raja! we r planning to apply for guinness records for mama's license..for taking license at age of 67..but he was driving all these days without license ;-) ..actually the problem with mama was,he was considering his age as 17 and half all these days ;-) and waiting for his 18 th year !!

RAMKI said...

checking name change

Unknown said...

Wow interesting...that disappointed you. Well my driving test was even easier. I wasn't even asked to drive. I simply got the license...I paid extra Rs.500! But when I actually got behind the wheel, a police man tried stopping me (I still don't know why...i didn't leave him in a position to explain that)...but in usual Indian police style, he came and stood right in front of my car waving his hand indicating me to stop. Now given that technically I had not passed the driving test, I stepped on the accelerator as hard as I could, instead of the break of course...and almost killed him! That was the last time I drove!!!

Padma said...

Thank u for reading my blog Nikita!ha!ha! excellent test!did u give the police something?

Aravind said...

hi.. my first comment.. wen i went thru it , it reminded me of my car driving license test.. i was practising wit my tutor next to me in the special place designed for licenmse test... before going to the test i got lots of info abt it n evry1 said tat u ll be asked to stop the car on a 45 degree slope n shud move it again without going back.. Remaining stroy ll be posted after i get my testi ;)... coming back to ur post it was a gud narration which helped me visualise the scenes that wud have took place... real fun too.. evry indian ll have this experience in his life.. cos our government is like tat ;).. keep blogging..