THIS KID LEARNT HOW TO DRIVE!

Yes! You heard it here first, absolutely exclusive! Definitely did not say all of that in a French accent. But yes, I learnt how to drive! Could have just posted this much as a life update sort of thing and run off to neverland BUT we’ve made it a mission to write as much as we can and rant and vent and maybe even bag that university application *wink wink* all the while entertaining y’all because like honestly what else do you have to do in life. While we’re at it, let’s talk about miss girl’s first driving lesson (also fact check this happened like four months ago but we all at this point know how inconsistent I am. Definitely, guilty.)

Before we get into the actual process of how I learnt to drive, let me provide you guys with some background and how I’ve been traumatised before. Back in 2013, I had this urge to learn how to ride a bicycle and of course like the true Indian parents mine are, they got me one. It was this bright pink coloured cycle with training wheels and if the pink doesn’t make it iconic enough; it also played a certain melody when I “reversed”. Now the kind of lazy bum I am, the cycle did not see the daylight until one day my mother went off on me and I just had to (or at least try to) ride it. Since madre dearest was busy clearing the havoc nine-year-old me had created in her room, dad was our only other option. For even more of a background, I don’t know if it’s just us but, dad and I have had quite a few disasters. This time though we were sure we didn’t want a repeat and left with complete preparation, head gear and everything. We made sure, we weren’t going to listen to anything that comes out of my mouth when I get a little too excited and want to speed up. It was sunny that day and oh lordy was it hot. We roamed around for a while in circles around the play ground near our house, after an hour or so the heat was starting to get bad and we decided to end our day right there and go home. Since my cycle was our only safe bet at that moment, I had to ride it back. While we were at the gate, my dad suggested that I shouldn’t get off the bike and ride it right in because we got to learn; after a tantrum from my side and a glare from his. A messy concoction was ready to be served. What do y’all think happened? Because whatever it is, is absolutely correct. Ding ding ding! We have a winner. If it wasn’t clear enough before, yes, I got myself a wound on the knee, thank you very much. Ever since that day, I decided I did not want to ride a bicycle neither did I want to even attempt a scooter.

Fast forward to 2022 and sixteen going on seventeen-year-old me, with the pressure of fending for myself which somehow included me knowing how to ride a scooter, I blurted out, “I’d directly learn how to drive a car.” So, yes that whole background story was realised after a lot of pestering and questioning… if that makes any sense. N E WAYS. The summer before twelfth grade, I asked my dad to teach me how to drive a car. And 1427839 days later, we went out for our first lesson, which started with me putting my blood, sweat and tears into waking up at 6 am and finally leaving by 7. Dad drove us to a quiet place, in terms of the number of vehicles travelling on that road, and we started with our lesson.

The first thing I learnt was, obviously, to start the car and as usual your girl messed it up on the first go BUT BUT BUT we got the hang of it on the 85648298^th try and smoothly turned the car on. Next, I slowly started accelerating the car according to dad’s instructions, going a little ahead and then stopping right there, then reversing the car and driving to the previous position. This went on for the first few days, I’d drive till the dead end, make a turn, stop, wait for dad to turn the car and repeat. Eventually, we started jumping gears and went from the first to the second and finally the third and fourth. And my god did my dad get mad for not speeding enough for the third gear and yelled, “BHAGA BHAGA BHAGAAAAA!!!” which is his synonym for moving faster, a thousand times. If only y’all could see me act it out. Soon, school started and it was now in our routine to let me drive while coming back home and like every dad ever teaching their kid how to drive; there was a lot of yelling and warnings and what not. Now, four months later, I think I’ve gotten him to trust me a little more with his precious Ford.