Road to Perdition?? -- Thankfully not!

Sweaty palms, the hair standing on the nape of my neck, shortness of breath, knocking knees and a total unwillingness to drive -- I just wasn't ready to surrender myself to the car and the open roads at 1am!! This was one situation I couldn't get out of. As my husband handed me the keys and gave me a small pat on back showing his encouragement, I simply wanted to faint!


There was so much going on in my mind -- where are the headlights, how do I raise the level of the seat, I have to adjust my mirrors, where is the bloody clutch[oh there isn't one...its an automatic car!], should I take a reverse first or try a swing stunt.... all this while my husband patiently waits for me to start the engine.


I did a small accelerator vs brake test lest I should kiss some bumper's behind and set it ringing. Keys-check, mirrors-check, headlights-on, placement of foot on accelerator-check.... Finally I said a little prayer and reved the babe up. She purred gently on a cool, crisp and starry night. A Sudden BRAKE -- "What happened??", asked Aditya. " A cat crossed the road!!!" My better half[especially at driving] rolled his eyes in frustration.....


After a good two minutes, something in the car pinged and kept on going on till I realised I had not put my seatbelt on -- that would be an automatic failure if I were at a car driving test. Slowly, at a speed of 20mph we were on our way.


Story so far -- I used to drive back home and when I landed here it was a difficult task to adjust to the left hand drive. I had to study for a written test here which was insanely boring to do. I eventually ended up passing the test in flying colors and have my driving permit but my actual driving test is yet to come. My husband has been giving me driving lessons on and off in parking lots and in our complex but it hasn't been regular. The irregularity also stems from my lack of interest in driving and total lethargy! God knows what came over my husband tonight...He handed the car keys to me when we left a friend's house and told me that I was going to drive back home. I strongly declined but to little effect. For the very first time I would be driving on open roads that too with little or you may even say, no practice!! I was nervous, scared and tensed !


So, my husband says, "You drive as you want. I wont say a word...no comments, no judgements and no sarcastic jokes. Its your thing to do totally. You drive me home." Those words rung in my ears like gongs! How was a girl who is used to Indian roads and judgements, who is used to practising in parking lots, to take a car and drive all the way home on the road???? This was insane!


As I swerved the car onto the main road, I saw railway crossing signs. Wondering whether I should stop or go and give up my 'right of way', Harried, I asked Aditya if I should STOP and then proceed. Cooly he told me to do what I wanted...to take my own judgements. I was appalled at his reaction...I simply drove past the tracks. My logic was that if he didn't stop me, it was the right thing to do. I'm rolling on a straight road at 25mph....Adi tells me to "step on the gas" so that I get a little used to speed [I'm not so much of a speedster].


Suddenly, a light from the rear view mirror blinds me...its a car that wanted to pass and was flashing lights at me. I tried to speed up a bit but from time to time kept giving the brakes a pump. I'm sure that was mighty irritating to the driver behind! Sadly, I couldn't even slow down and give him way to pass since it was a one lane road. We were approaching a bifurcation and Aditya told me that we had to go left. I put on the right indicator...missed the left lane[which was where I was supposed to go] and immediately switched to the left indicator. In the meanwhile since I had already missed the left lane, Aditya told me to go right...in all this confusion, I kept alternating between the left and right indicators!!


Eventually, I swung into the right lane and made room for the car behind to pass. I also am proud to say that I got my first finger shown at me when the car passed by! A usual 10 minute road took about 20 minutes to reach. As I slowly pulled in to the complex, I could see a pretty disgusted Aditya reach out to what I made out to be a SMILE! Now I'm not sure whether he was proud that I finally drove and drove without banging into anything or whether he was simply happy that it was over!


All I can say is that, that was my thankfully not my road to perdition... it ended in a pretty good adrenaline drive - literally and figuratively! Cheers to many more driving expeditions to come!

Back after long...

Just this morning a friend asked me if I could give her a synonym for the word "led" as in "led a project". I was blank! It was then that I realised how much I have actually been outta touch with words. When she asked me for some help, I immediately opened a new explorer window and went to my saviour - "www.thesaurus.com". Merrily looked around and found words such as "piloted" or "advanced" and "took ahead". Technology has made me [I can speak for myself] so dependant that when in need I depend more on my computer than my very own brain!
So, I took needful steps and decided that I should start blogging and reading so as to improve my vocabulary and get to be more articulate. I was ashamed to admit to myself that I could not even find or remember simple words to support a conversation. Whatever happened to my communication skills, i thought? I just hope that my will power to continue this blog goes hand in hand with my determination to improve my linguistic ability ....
Till the next blog
Adios!

Bombay to Pune

Recently I was invited to my friend's sister's wedding in Pune. I was ready on one leg to get there, not because I love attending weddings or socialising with hoards of people I don't know; but because I would be travelling alone. Yeah , yeah, I know age 25 isn't exactly a time when I should feel proud that I would be travelling alone for the first time because most people have been there, done that much before they turned double digits! But well, I have a dad who gets extremely possessive and concerned and never lets his daughter travel alone [it's a surprise he let me go to college and work all over Bombay!].


So after much hankering, pleading and emotional drama, I was let to have my way and go to Pune all alone. My dad made sure that I would travel in utmost comfort and thought a Volvo ride would do good but unfortunately for him, all those monsters were packed! So there we are, dad and I, standing at the S. T. bus stop waiting for one of those MSRTC A.C. buses. There they go, one after another with people filled inside like sardines, kids, women dressed in traditional sarees[it was apparently Buddha Purnima that day]...Finally i got one which hadn't a seat empty to place my buns on. The conductor promised a seat after 45 minutes and asked me to join him in the driver's cabin till then. I was a little skeptical about joining him in there but followed him never-the-less!




The ride didn't seem all that great till we hit beyond Vashi. Another man had joined me in that cabin which was hot, stinking heavily of manly sweat and I had to sit on the engine which wasn't exactly the throne of the Persian king! There was incessant and unwanted friendly banter amongst the three men [the driver, conductor and the third man] which was driving me mad considering I was out of it! People who know me will swear by the fact that I hate being left out of a conversation[People who don't know me, WRITE IT DOWN!] . But as we hit the highway, a very different feeling came over me - I started enjoying the view outside, I loved the fact that I could see the road in its entirety....loved the weather and the smooth cruise along the broad roads. After a while, the third man got a seat at the far end of the bus and was more than glad to leave us three in the driver's cabin. Time ticked by slowly with the three of us in there. They were a bit conscious and struggled to keep silent and spoke only when necessary. Finally the driver couldn't take it anymore and decided to spark up a conversation with me. He started out with the typical rural Maharashtrian twang and asked me where I was headed to. At first it was really difficult to catch his accent but by and by I got used to it-almost felt like home!!






As our conversations flowed like old friends that saw each other yesterday, it just got more apparent to me that I was in that cabin to stay! Soon enough, the bus came to a screeching halt at a food mall and there I was guzzling down coffee and hot hot medu vadas. I was graced by sweet and sort of embarrassed smiles from the driver-conductor duo who were feeling pretty bad that I was eating all alone. I instantly grabbed my phone and started jabbering, lest they invite me to sit at their table and enjoy chai with them! 10 minutes later, our driver whistled to inform us that he was going—with or without us! All of us scrambled into the old bus and I graciously took my seat next to the duo. More conversations and finally the driver asked me what he had been dying to ask me—"kuthh utraych ahe tumhala hoy?"[where do u want to get off]. I promptly took out the marriage card which had the address on it and showed it to him. A slow, all-understanding smile lighted his face and he murmured some place that I had never heard of in my entire life. The conductor and driver exchanged ways and means to get there and proudly let me know directions and the best way to get there in time.
Soon we were entering Pune limits and incesant jabbering still continued between the three of us. People got off at various stops and the city came to life as we neared the famous spots in and around Pune. I was getting increasingly restless to get off and kept asking "driver bhauji" if my destination had arrived. The conductor laughed out loud and said that i had another 30 minutes to get off so I should simply stop getting anxious and relax! Finally, Swargate arrived and I was ceremoniously taken off the bus with, both, the driver and conductor on the road with me, making an effort to show me the directions and get me a rick. People peeped out of their windows to see what the commotion was all about. I thanked them profusely and told them what a delight they had made my journey. They blushed in tandem and shrugged their shoulders. As they climbed back into the bus and it's stinky cabin, I saw the conductor and driver take out a little tabacoo and pat it on their palms and put it in their mouths. I smiled to myself and thought that this was definatley one journey i woudn't forget for years to come.
I picked my bag and walked to the rickshaw stand.

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