Daddy, I got the License

When you are gonna celebrate your Eighteenth birthday, you add two things in you To-do list.

1. Booze

2. Getting Married

No, not that two. They are unofficial. But officially you make sure you do these two things. 

1. Getting the Voter's ID Card

2. Getting the Driver's Licence

Since I am not that much of a political guy, I was never interested in getting the Voter ID anyway. I still don't. But I do hope, I'll get it someday and punch votes (that's the old system na?). Okay then, I'll press buttons to cast my Vote. I think I probably will be doing a neutral vote. 

So, here's a flashback. My 18th birthday was so memorable. I was in Dharmapuri back then. I used to sleep a lot. Believe me, A Lot. I always kept dreaming that my 18th birthday would be awesome. But the reality can sometimes hit you so hard that you stammer to even get up. Yes, I didn't get up that morning. That morning I had like 16 missed calls or something. I was in a such a deep sleep that, I put all the calls that my phone received in Silence. Mom had gone to her college, and dad was in Karaikal and bro was in school. Since it was me all alone, I slept through all the calls and woke up in the early afternoon, like 12.05 or even earlier 12.03. 

I didn't return any of the calls. You know why? When someone calls you on your birthday and you couldn't take the call, you call them back. And you're like "Tell me Happy Birthday". It doesn't seem appropriate for me, so I didn't. So they also didn't. And that's how awesome my Not-a-kid-anymore-birthday was. People would have been pissed or happy that I didin’t answer their calls or they saved a call’s cost respectively with my not-answering-the-call.

So...yes, the Driver's Licence. I've always thought of applying for the licence, exactly the day after the birthday which wasn't that happened. But I delayed a very short period of 365 days, where I crossed my birthday again (Yeah, 19).

So, after getting into college, I became less-active. To speak in easier words, I became freaking lazy. I was so lazy to drag my butt to a driving school and get an LLR (Learner's License Rule). I am not sure whether this is the proper abbreviation. I applied for this LLR in February. 3 days after my brother's birthday, I finally applied. We can go for the final test once we complete 30 days from the date of application of the LLR. 

And the LLR is valid for 6 months and from the 31st day, we can go for the test and you can show your stuff to the RTO. If he approves of you, you can then get the License.

So, back then, I had been juggling with three things at the same time. Maybe workaholics can handle three stuff at a time, but not me definitely.

1. The Passport : My college had a tie-up with an Canadian University (Dalhousie Univesity) on Agriculture that offered course that I can continue there after completing my sixth semester here. Dad was very eager in sending me there. If I was to go there, I would be needing a Passport. The pressure was on. The guy who hardly gets up from the chair is made to go to a travel agency and constantly inquire about what to do next. Most of the time, I don't really understand what they tell me and I don't really give a damn. And all of a sudden, my college was took over by the government and the tie-up was locked out. So, No Canada. No Passport. Dad has told me to get it any soon. It's still on the cards. It's on its way.

2. The G-Tech Computer Course : My dad and mom said that I spent too much time on the computers and should utilize my time more efficiently. What did they do? They put me in a Computer course. They had been telling me to join in one for so long and I didn't get up and drag myself anywhere. One day, we were out for shopping when I got down from our car and was getting some things at a shop, they entered this G-tech Computer Education and were discussing about the courses offered there. I was like "Whatever, let's give it a try. Maybe I can meet some girls."

I chose hardware and Networking as I have wanted to do this course whenever I had a chance to do a Computer course. But when I got there "The Internationally Qualified staff was a guy from a nearby village who was 20 years old. The Advertisement reality. But he taught okay. The thin is I got fed up when they started teaching me the "Software Installation". They would put in a CD and ask me to click "Next" for the installation to progress. After that, it was a freaking slow system and it would literally take forever to complete and I sit through the whole process awkwardly staring at the screen. From then, I didn't go there. Well, for obvious reasons.

3. The Driving School : After a two-day of search, I mean trying to search, we found a Driving school and inquired. They told that I should have completed 18. I was 18. But the funny thing is, I and my Mom had this sudden confusion that we came to the conclusion that I wasn't 18 and walked out from the first Driving school. Stupid. While we were on our way back to our home, we found that I actually was 18 already. We were embarrassed to go back to the same school. So my dad signed me up in another School which had part of my name, Raja Driving school. Maybe I was meant to learn Driving there. Universe knows what's best.

The thing that the driver who taught me did was, he never told me what the Gear shift was. Nor did he tell me anything about the ABC (Accelerator Brake Clutch). In fact, he told me nothing. But he would let us drive the vehicle. Then, when we make a mistake, he would say "Is that how you'd do it?". And I'll be like "Sucker, what have you taught me? I am doing it on my own, so shut the pipe up" in my mind. The thing with driving is that if someone teaches you, they will guide you to drive the way they drive the vehicle. Everything should be done exactly how they do it. If that guy who is teaching you slows as soon as he sees a vehicle approaching at a distance of, say, 500m, he wants you to do the very same. We just have to learn the basics and then we have to feel the vehicle by ourselves. As days progress, you'll know when to press and when to shift. It's all about the connection of you with the vehicle, be it a car or bike or whatever.

This being the condition of the school that I was learning in, it did hold me back. But luckily, we had a car for ourselves and that gave me the opportunity to learn on my own. My mom, on the other hand, was scared about taking the car alone and she never would let me take it. Even so, I drove the car daring without her knowledge at times and I did connect with our car. The connection varies obviously for different cars while you are learning. The more you drive, the more you learn. Then it becomes easy with time. 

In the third year of my studies, my college was taken up by the Government. Yes, I’m a part Prviate College and a part Government College Guy! This led to the Attendance factor a crazy one. Before that, it was okay to get low attendance but then, it was freaking serious. So, I had to think twice before I took a day off. After I put the LLR on february, I totally could have took the Driver’s test one month after the applied date. But I didn’t. And the LLR was about to expire in July 3^rd. I had to take the test any soon or the LLR will expire which will make me apply for it again and wait a month. After much of hurdles, I took a day off on the final expiry date of the LLR and finally went up to the RTO Office, one fine Monday. I drove my car (yes, I could drive) to the office and reached there by 10.00 in the morning.

It was a long wait, that I had that day. I waited from the morning till the lunch time in that office in the scorching sun (No, they never gave me a waiting hall). So, this long wait was to see the RTO Officer and to show him my skills in driving. The funny thing was I didn’t know how to put an ‘8’ in the two wheeler. I was kinda nervous.

It was nearly 1 o’clock when the officer came out. My driving school coach or someone, talked to him. HE waved at me in the meaning “GO get the car”. I rushed out , opened my car springing up the keys from my pants and jumped into the Driver’s seat. I gave the car life and drove it inside the office. But suddenly an office car was coming out and I had to take the vehicle out to give space for them to come out. So, I parked outside and went in. I was taken by surprise. The Officer was putting his helmet on and was about to leave. I was puzzled. He was leaving. I was afraid that if I couldn’t get it now I would have to come again in the evening. But they won’t take tests in the evening which means I can’t get it today which will result in ending the LLR. I would also have to take a day off again.

I stood there and gave him a Salute. He responded with a nod. I began, “Sir License?”. And he replied “I passed you, go!” and he took off. That was it. I was approved of a Driver’s License. I didn’t have to show him the ‘8’ that the rule insisted. To my fortune, I was lucky to have this opportunity. 

But yeah, I know learned to drive. Don’t worry about me rash driving and making accidents. I know my limits and actually I am a pace driver. So, it’s not a problem at all. And yeah this is how I got the license.

That’s it. I’ll wind up here.

Anyways, thanks for reading (uh, no) for bearing with the words.

Love,

Guhan!