Car Diaries

Saturday, October 17th, 2009
Diwali Weekend. To do or not to do. On Friday morning trainer suddenly says ‘ Do it’. Surprised i asked, ‘Are you serious?’ He says, Yes do it now, drive really slow, worst it will take you 3 hours.” I ask Much Ado. She as usual, tells me to just go ahead. Evening AS calls. He thinks i am already home in Gurgaon. I inform him about my plans. He trashes it immediately. He thinks i am being foolish. My confidence plummets. Suddenly as i am tending my farm (FarmvilleJ ) my colleague suddenly pops up on gchat. We begin to chat. He has overheard me telling someone in office about my plans. He asks whether I am all set. He senses my dejection and gives me a pep talk. Explains some basics and tells me “I Can do it.”
Father gives me a wake up call at 5:30 on October 17th 2009. i get dressed and reach office where my car is parked. i start at 6:30 as i want to avoid traffic. As i settle into a rhythm i begin to enjoy it. i take a wrong turn , i get lost, i find my way again. But i reach home. It takes me 2 hours but i reach home without a scratch. Parents are sitting at the balcony. They cant believe it’s me. They give me loud applause. Lesson learnt: I can drive! I can drive! i need to learn how to read that Eicher map.

Monday, October 18th, 2009
I returned today. I had decided to start again very early. i started at 5:50 .a.m. i managed to turn the car around outside the house quite smoothly i thought. My take off was good. I wanted to avoid coming out from the Omaxe Plaza side where i am still not very sure whether i can hold the car on the incline when i pause for the traffic before crossing over to the other side. I took the road through South City. However something went wrong. It took me 45 minutes and almost 13 kms to reach Rajiv Chowk. But i did fairly well on the highway and as i gained confidence i settled into a 40km/hr rhythm. i reached Dhaula Kuan. After that everything again went wrong. I wanted to go towards Moti Bagh but found myself going towards India Gate. i went round and round at teen murti. i saw places i had never seen. i detoured several times. i got lost. i stopped several times to ask for directions. i finally reached home in 3 hours. The distance i travelled, i could have touched Delhi and returned to Gurgaon. I was getting terribly late so i decided to park near my house. I thought no one should mind if i parked outside their house as i would leave in 10 minutes after dropping by bags home. i found an empty space and i parked. Suddenly out popped a wrinkled old sardani. She wanted me to park elsewhere. Then out popped a wrinkled old sardar from the next house who said i should park right there. Sardarni and sardar started fighting. Suddenly sardar did an about turn and screamed at me to move the car and do as i was being told. Left with no choice i decided to move it. i found a place on the other side. i reversed. i changed the gear back to first and drove into the small space. i thought i should push it in some more. i pressed the accelerator too hard and Crash! i hit the pavement. i knew i had done it. My brand new car! Yes i have dented the bumper! No scratches thankfully and i am assured that it can be mended easily after which it should look as good as new. But there is a lump in my throat and i want to cry. Not even a month since i brought it home! The feeling will last a few days i know. Until the knowledge that i managed to drive the car at peak time through dense traffic taking several detours on busy roads, takes over. Lesson learnt: I am sorted. I can drive! But i need to drive more and begin to understand my car. And never to accelerate when parking if not sure. To get out of car, if needed a hundred times and measure the available distance before accelerating. My poor car. But writing this sure helped. :)

DO it now Woman!

i let so much of the cord roll out that it is now difficult to manage. so rest of my june trip shall have to wait. meanwhile, i have more pressing worries - the major one being this red berry coloured box like thing with wheels parked a mile away from my house which i am still too scared to move. i mean i have taken one training and a half already ... there is no reason why i should not be able to drive it but how do i know when is the right time to start? i have dreamt for so long - i had so many plans pending for when the box on wheels arrived - suddenly they seem to have dried up and i find myself inventing new excuses to delay it by another day. ...

God give me strength and any of you who read this, if you drive, share your initial driving experiences. Thankyou Ratika for telling me its ok to make three mistakes - that its ok if you hit a rickshaw a couple of times. I need someone to tell me that if i reversed into another car while parking noone would mind. That i will always find a parking attendant at every place i go to. That i will not press the accelerator instead of the break at a signal. That if the engine stops in the middle of traffic i will not be bullied. That it wont be very long before i know the delhi routes.... That it wont be long before i can park my car right under my house.....

Maybe i will just take it out the next court day and then see what happens. And stop listening to trainer and AS who tell me not to do it alone. How the hell am i going to find someone everyday to sit beside me. So both of you can take a hike. Just be around by my bedside if i do land up at ..... the sight of that shattered grey santro still haunts....