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The Driver's seat.

I finally got my driver's licence today.

Yes, I can finally be seen without those two hideous red marks on both sides of my car. How I hate those. They're like signs that scream, "Overtake me! I'm bound to stop suddenly and dent your bonnet!"
I mean, it just happened twice. It's not like I'm prone to it or anything, though it seems the drivers of the Corolla and the Santro got the word around. Nobody seems to want to drive behind me after that.

Anyway, so I got this shiny new card today that allows me to take the car out for a spin.
I couldn't get one earlier on account of me being out of the state for extended periods of time, but that's another story.

 This one is just to highlight the enormous differences in the experiences that the front two seats have to offer.

All my life, I have been content with being driven around by my parents, and since some time ago, even my brother. What can I say, I enjoy the freedom it gives me. I can type on my phone, nod my head to music, use both my hands to express my feelings to errant drivers. In short, I cherished the extent to which my thoughts could wander when the person sitting next to me was trying to tell me something important, or just trying to bludgeon me to do something with my life. (Yes mother, this one is aimed at you.)

The passenger seat is the easy seat. You can enjoy the scenery, kick back, and relax. Everything is taken care of for you.

Now, since I finally had a chance to learn how to drive, my folks insisted that I get this task off their hands. They woke me up in the wee hours of the morning, and forced a groggy, drooling me into the front seat, and asked me to drive.
Seat belt, check. Steering wheel, gear stick, pedals, check.
How hard can pressing stuff in sync be? I mean, I had seen them do it so many times, I'm mostly a quick study. I've played Need for Speed till my keyboard broke.

 This was easy, right?

Wrong.

It took me 2 days just to get the car moving from 1st gear perfectly. I was asked to stop, gently release the accelerator in sync about a thousand times, until I learnt not to let the engine stall.

The good news was that it was mostly downhill from there. I was a natural at changing gears smoothly, and I actually enjoyed it. 

Driving was FUN!

Until it was decided that I was proficient enough to learn in traffic.
This is the part I want to emphasize. Driving in peak hour traffic, especially in India, especially for a novice like me, is HARD. Really HARD.
That rickshaw waala teleports in front of me from the side, the cycle waala playing 'Munni badnaam hui' wants to jump the red light. Life is tough. Civic sense is an alien term.

The Driver's seat is different. You have to make decisions, be alert. You have to be ready, have your head in the game. You are responsible for the lives of the people in your car, and in front of you, no matter how horrible their taste in music might be.

It's only after I return home and am drying my sweat by shoving my head in the freezer that I get to think about this.

The Driver's seat is always the tougher one, be it in the car, or in life.
It's infinitely easier to let someone else take you where you need to go, to criticize what other's do, to demand for change like a tantrum-toddler.

 It's infinitely easier to chastize others for their mistakes, especially when you're happy just to serve as an observer, far from the possibility of you making that same mistake yourself. No obstacles, no Munni's, no aunty's waiting on the sidewalk to jump in front of you to see if you're still awake.

It's infinitely easier to be a passenger in your own life, just watching where life takes you, rather than having the muchiness to steer it in the way you want to go.

 It's a different experience, the Driver's seat. Take it once in a while.

As for me, I have promises to keep, and miles to drive before I sleep.

Comments

  1. M_S_1814 June 2013 at 12:51

    Being in the driver's seat is definitely not an easy task and is even more difficult if you have someone sitting next to you shouting instructions every second ;)
    That's a well written post, Aditya.
    Waiting for more to read :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aditya Vikram Singh14 June 2013 at 12:55

    Now ain't that a true thing.
    Thanks. :D
    I'll be trying to write more today itself. You know, to make the most of being jobless. :P

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown14 June 2013 at 14:32

    Finally you realized the difference ...I guess I will enjoy my games more now :P

    ReplyDelete
  4. Aditya Vikram Singh14 June 2013 at 14:39

    Rohan, the sad truth is that I'm still going to be pointing out all the mistakes you make, because I'd be more than glad if you get frustrated, hand me the controller, and say, "Itna pata hai to tu hi khel le na!"
    ;)

    ReplyDelete

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