My driving experiences-2

This is post is the continuation of the last post about my driving experiences.

Well let’s start with the important aspect of driving any car. First a fall, you should remove the phobia that you can’t drive a car as soon as you sit on the driver’s seat. You should have the confidence of driving the car irrespective of whether the weather, pothole ‘wallah’ road or any other minor reasons. Before starting of car it’s the responsibility of driver to ensure that the car is working properly. He is the one who has to see whether the car has adequate engine oil, brake oil or whether the tires are aerated. This should be done as the fate of the passengers is in his hand. Also you should adjust the two mirrors of your car to see the vehicles behind you.

The next important part is driving a vehicle improves your eye, ear, hand, legs co-ordination. Your reflexes should be quick to respond to any type of circumstances. Let me explain this hand-eye-ear-leg co-ordination with an example. When you sit on a driver’s seat you two legs should be able to handle the three pedals of the car namely ABC’s( accelerator, brakes, clutch) , your two hands should be able to handle the gears, steering wheel as well as various functions on the dashboard of the car. Also your eyes and ears should be wide open so that you could understand what’s happening in the surrounding.

Next thing is that you should always start any vehicle with gear in neutral mode. This prevents your car from starting from jerk in case you have not pressed the clutch pedal of the car. Slowly accelerate the car once you switched to the 1^st gear and change the gears according to your speed. Don’t accelerate the car rapidly as the vehicle in front of you can stop at any instant leading to an accident.

It is sometimes said ‘roads have potholes but Indian potholes have roads’ J

Though this criteria is not applicable to all Indian roads. Nothing happens if you go through a small pothole if your shock absorbers are good but many things can happen if u go through a big pothole. Your car can bounce and run into the divider of road.

Also from my experiences the golden rule to cross any speed breaker is as follows:

As soon as you see a speed breaker change the gear to 1^st and reduce the speed by pressing both the clutch and brake. As soon as you fell that your front tires have gone through the speed breaker increase the speed and shift to 2^nd gear. That’s what I have been doing whenever I see a speed breaker.

Last but not the least; don’t talk with your co-passenger unnecessarily. Also don’t drink and drive for sake of your safety as well as others who are driving on the road.

HAPPY DRIVING..

My experiences at the driving school

                When I turned 18 years old on 29^th November, 2007, I took a firm decision to be a legal citizen of India by having a valid photo identity card issued by Government of India. Till then I had no photo identity and was recognized by the Government of India on the grounds of ration card, a domicile certificate and a birth certificate.

            The options in front of me was to obtain a PAN card which I didn’t needed desperately as of now, a passport but a thought cropped up in my mind- what’s the need of a passport when I will be using it only after I get a job, the last option one was to get a driving license which would be of great use to me as well as to my family. The main reason for dad approving the idea of me obtaining a driving license is that his dream will come true of enjoying in the backseat of a car   while I sweat it out on the Indian roads and the standstill traffic with a dumb cow ruminating quietly on the middle of a six lane road unaware of the threat she faces from the monstrous Indian traffic. (One point I would like to mention is that Indian roads have greatly improved and the fact that the National Geographic society had a mention of it in their magazine.) Also my mother equally dreamed me helping her doing daily chores on the bike. Well my intention was that I should be able to drive a car in emergency situations.

            Finally the day dawned when my vacations started in June and I was free to do whatever I wanted after a harrowing one year of engineering. After enquiring a few driving schools in my locality, I enrolled for the one which was nearest to my home. (After all vacations were going on and I couldn’t take the risk of getting up early and destroying my peaceful sleep)

            Day 1: Reporting time 7:00 a.m. I reached at 7:15 a.m. The consequences- their whole schedule got disturbed. Then I came to know that students like me  who were lined up at an interval of 30 minutes, and as I was late by 15 minutes they too got late by 15 minutes and I was the first trainee student of the day. Many students were office goers who went late to the office because of a lazy oaf like me. I got a warning from the receptionist of the diving school to be on time the next day.

            I forgot to tell you what I learnt on the first day. The driving master came with the key and i followed with him to the Maruti 800 car. He told me to remain calm, adjust my seat and seat belt and slowly introduced me to all the aspects of a car. The ABC’s, that is the pedals, accelerator, brake and the clutch, how do they work, how to start the car, the various functions on the signs on the dash board of the car, and even how to adjust the side mirror of car. Then I started the car. Frankly speaking on that day I was just pushing the accelerator and the steering wheel while the controls of the gear clutch and the breaks were in his hand. I was observing him how he changes the gear and applies the break. I quickly grasped it as I had seen my father doing this for many years. Then he gave the controls of the car to me and I drove it in the best manner I can. In all it was a good day.

            Day 2: The instructor changed and he directly told me to drive. I told him that it was my second day and kindly requested him to explain again how to start a car. I think the guy was having a bad morning and he hurriedly explained me and off we went. On that day I had problems changing the gear from 2^nd to 3^rd and vice versa. After getting a hearing from him I was still uneasy in changing the gears and was not satisfied with the 2^nd day at the school.

The remaining 18 days went smoothly with me learning the various skills of driving a car.

In the next post I would be sharing my experiences of how to drive a car and the problems I had encountered in driving the car.