A DEBUTANT DRIVER’S DIARY

A DEBUTANT DRIVER’S DIARY


By Akshay A. Kalbag


I aspire to be on the road someday, and I hope that happens very soon. Before someone reads this and wonders whether I am some aimless vagabond with low ambitions, let me clarify that I aspire to be on the road to success and progress someday, and I hope that happens very soon.


Prior to taking the decision to enrol myself in a motor driving school here in Oman, my only experience of driving was … well, driving people crazy. My desire to drive (a car) was born out of two needs–firstly, the need to commute to and from work at an unearthly hour of the day (read: the wee hours of the morning, when most citizens of this peaceful city are still catching up on their forty winks), and secondly, the need to also be armed with an additional qualification–a driving licence–which, more often than not, assumes as much, if not more, importance as a passport for a person residing in this part of the world.


Thus, in my quest to mobilise myself, I got acquainted with a gentleman who, unfortunately, did not understand English too well, and obviously, did not know what he was up against before he took up the challenging task of teaching me the fundamentals of driving. One warm Tuesday morning in June, this ‘angel’ appeared at my doorstep and introduced himself to me as the man under whose guidance I would soon be able to at least stand on my own feet … well, not exactly, but definitely to drive up on my own set of wheels, at some point in the near future. I accompanied him, armed with my learners’ licence (the ‘blue book’, as it is popularly known), and learnt the alphabet backwards during my first lesson. The car had a manual transmission, so I had to grapple with the CBA of motoring (that is, clutch, brake and accelerator.) I was nervous to begin with, but I was raw and eager to learn. I struggled a bit with the accelerator initially, but then I quickly overcame the shaky start and got the hang of driving. I also cautiously manoeuvred the gears, resisting the temptation to drive too fast or too slow, and remained calm and composed, as if I had been in the driver’s seat for ages.


Well, I went through the most thrilling experience of my life during my maiden driving lesson, and I am pretty sure I feel the same way as all of you who are mobile felt on your own debuts as drivers, and all those who plan to learn driving in the future will feel when they procced towards ‘Mission Driving Licence.’