A walk to my birthplace - Day 70 (225 Km covered so far)

As I walked someone honked behind. I looked back little irritated as I was walking on the footpath. I saw a car branded with “motor-training school” logo driven by a petrified man at the steering wheel. He was obviously nervous about learning the car and honking had nothing to do with me!

My mind went back to my motor driving school days. In the late eighties I enrolled for car driving. In those days you typically had to enroll with agencies that trained you basic car driving and got you the license. These agencies were popularly known as “motor-training schools”. The instructor used to pick you up from your designated spot to give a lesson on driving. Once you complete one month, the instructor would take a batch of four to the Regional Transport Office (RTO) to get you your license. On the way to RTO everyone would get to drive for one final round of practice ….

I was trained by an instructor called Yusufbhai. He was taking four of us to RTO. Turn by trun we all drove and finally it was Krishnan’s turn. Krishnan used to be nervous about his driving. He used to hold the steering wheel exactly the way someone would hold the rope hanging from the cliff. There was a fixed expression of amusement on his face – as if he was amused about the movement of the car. Krishnan started driving with his eye fixed on the road. As we drove there was a crater-like pothole on the road. Krishnan almost seemed to aiming for the pothole. Yusufbhai screamed “Krishnan khadda (pothole)”. Without taking his eyes off the road, Krishnan honked and took us through the pothole! Yusufbhai was furious – “Krishnan – do you think pothole will move aside when you honk!” – rest of us were in splits!

Well, we have our own ‘Krishnan’ moments in life. Sometimes we are so nervous about our tasks that there is no joy in moving towards our goal. Though you see a pothole, you forget that pothole will not move by making noise, you have to steer yourself clear of potholes. When we are tensed we just make unnecessary noise even though there is a steering wheel in our own hand!!!