Driving-Mess-Dizzy

Last week (or was it the previous one?) saw me taking the long-awaited driving test and passing with flying colors- flying colors, even though I drove at a marvelous top speed of 25kmph! I had been preparing for this ride for months. 3 months to be exact. I distinctly remember having wished the Motor Training School guide "Happy New Year". That would be my 4th training session or so. Things were going well until about the 16th session, after which I couldn't find time for the sessions. And so started a game of hide-and-seek. I changed the route I took to get home from the railway station, in order to avoid walking by the Motor Training School. I dreaded hearing the "Bhole Saheb!" that the trainer is prone to calling me. If the trainer saw me on the road I'd look the other way and pretend I had not seen him. Or maybe duck into the nearest gully. All because I hadn't a clue about how soon or how late I'd get back from college, and hence couldn't book a slot for a driving session. The biggest brat in the country couldn't avoid school the way I did.

The first week of March offered some leisure and I made up my mind to get done with it. The driving license I mean. I trundled up to my trainer with a sheepish grin on my face. The expression on my face might have been saying "Hey old boy! Is this a nice morning or what?" but his face clearly said "Oh! The crown prince is here! How wonderful!" in a sarcastic way. After 3 more evenings I was pressing all the right peddles and was up for the test. The test would be on Friday. But hold on! I was missing something. I had put off getting recommendation letters from my profs for a number of days, and Friday would be the last chance to get them, if I had to post the recos on time. The price of procrastination, one would say. But then I'm one who likes to learn things the hard way.

Frantic Friday : I called up dear old Srikanth. If there's someone I can trust to dig me out of a hole, it's him. Even Jeeves would approve with a "He is quite the man, sir". So, Srikanth agreed to get the letters from the profs on my behalf while I went for the driving test. My driving trainer drove 5 of us trainees to the RTO office in a place in Wadala that resembles a wasteland- the kind you see in movies, where all the bad guys get together to buy and sell hardware. I'd been here before for getting the learner's license, and was not looking forward to spending much time in this foul place. It took an hour for the driving school's agent to set up the test- the relevent papers, the policeman, the car et al. And then I took the test, with only the agent in the front seat. I changed a gear or two, and took a beautiful U-turn- I wish I could draw so well. A bit of waiting, stamping documents and thumb-impressioning later, I left the place, secure in the knowledge that the license was on its way. By 2 p.m. I was back in college, and I found that Srikanth had done some of the cumbersome work I had given him. Finding 2 of the profs turned out to be difficult and it was at 4.55 p.m. that I found myself in Dr.Daruwala's cabin, getting his reco. At the same moment, Srikanth was getting the reco from Prof.Nair, just as she was leaving. As I reached the quadrangle in a daze, I marveled at how lucky I had been. I spent the next hour with Srikanth, idling my time away in the quad , as I have lately been predisposed to doing. And I enjoyed the chocolates gifted by my juniors (I adore them all, the juniors I mean!) since it was chocolate day in college. Life couldn't be better, or what?