Queen of the road

QUEEN OF THE ROAD

In the early nineties though we had a car for several years my wife did not show much interest in driving. However, one morning out of the blue she insisted that I should teach her to drive.

We set off from home off MG Road and reached Cubbon Road. I showed her the various controls. She immediately wanted to take over. That was the exact moment when I started greying. The car took two jerks and the engine stalled. The stop and go routine continued for several days. At the cricket stadium we would turn left and on to MG Road and then back home. Every time I gave her advice on braking or releasing the clutch she told me not to distract her. Each day once we reached home it was recriminations from both sides which ended by her accusing me of not wanting her to drive. This situation was resolved when she joined a well-known driving school. Soon she flaunted her driving licence and promptly stopped wanting to be mobile.

After we shifted to Hyderabad she again had the urge to drive. But now she claimed that the traffic in that city was disorganized (this coming from a Banglorean!).So off she went and joined a driving school near our home. Pretty soon I had to buy a second car(a brand new bright red Santro) to satisfy her wanderlust. Every time there was a scratch or a dent the fault was always the other person’s. “I had the right turn signal on and also put my hand out, but still that fool kept coming straight and hit the side”, was a constant travail. But soon she got used to this love-hate relationship with Hyderabad traffic and the roads and it was quite peaceful for the next few years. Meanwhile, she had also managed to renew her licence, courtesy her best friend’s uncle.

We then returned to Bangalore in 2005. By now she was older, wiser and more patient so she did not crib about the Bangalore traffic. She happily drove around handling her chores or visiting relatives and friends. One day she found that her licence had expired four months earlier. Further, as we had shifted cities there was the issue of change of address, and NOC. There was panic all around. One tout offered to get a new one for her for Rs 4000.My wife being rather prudent with her purse strings refused. She found a better solution, in which she had past experience. She discovered a driving school in our neighbourhood and immediately registered with them. Every morning she would drive to their office in her  new Hyundai i10 and then get in to their training car. She soon graduated from her Learner’s licence to the real one. Every now and then the Bangalore Traffic Police smartphone spews out her misdemeanours. But she has reached a point of no concern. After all I am always there to pay up the fine.

Now she has ambitions to drive my pristine white,unscratched SUV.Like hell!