It is the soul that matters

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Driving and me

Three 12 year old kids were pedaling their cycles at around 10 in the night. Two boys and one girl. They saw a truck coming from the opposite direction. The first boy lost his balance and fell badly. He was quite ahead of the other two. The second boy too fell in a puddle a few meters behind the first boy. The girl was far behind from them, but she screamed and she fell too. She didn’t know why she fell. There was no reason for her to fall. The truck had gone, there was no puddle, and still she fell. The boys forgot about their injuries and burst out laughing. She said she got scared and since both of them fell, she also fell. Such a stupid reason…………. And all started laughing.

That shy and scared girl is me. I was always scared of cycling. I had never taken my cycle to the main road, and used to cycle only in the lanes. And that too, only when my bhaiya or papa used to be around.

Now, at the age of 23, I am still scared of cycling. I can never sit in the front seat of a two wheeler. But I always wanted to drive a four wheeler, a car. This was not a very great wish of mine. Just wanted to try it. I got a chance. I got keys of a friend’s car. I was very excited about driving the car. I wanted to put my hands on the steering.

I went and sat on the driver’s seat. But I didn’t know what to do after that. I didn’t know which is the clutch, which is the break and which is the accelerator. I didn’t know anything about changing the gears, when they should be changed, about the hand break. In short, I knew nothing, not even some of the terms. He told me everything. He gave me the theoretical knowledge about driving a car. Now I knew when and how the gears had to be changed, when to use the hand break, clutch, leg break and everything. Since I was interested, I learnt everything very fast. Since his car is new and he is possessive about it, he didn’t allow me to drive it. Obviously, no body would do that.

I then decided to join a driving school. I still have to do that. I have not approached any driving school.

Later once I went to meet another friend. His car is pretty old. He was driving and the road was empty. I told him that I wished to drive it. He immediately agreed. I went and sat on the driver’s seat. I DROVE. I drove the car for about 4 meters. Ya, I know that’s not great, but for me, it is. Later he took the car to another empty road where I drove for about 100 meters. I drove it in the first gear only, but it was fun. I drove a car. wow. It made me feel so happy. I started the car properly, drove straight……….Ya, my friend had kept his hand on the steering, but still………He kept encouraging me that I was driving properly. He told me when to change the gear. I drove on second gear just for 3-4 meters, then returned to first gear. It was all so exciting. But I couldn’t manage to stop the car properly. It jerked a little before it could stop finally.

But all in all, it was fun. I enjoyed. I thanked my friend and left. I have now decided to learn driving…soon, very soon.

Posted by Nats :: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 :: 0 comments