In my 6 years of driving experience, 2007 was a turnaround. Initially there was a lot of frustration and I was irritated with the fact that my Indian driver’s license was no good in Australia. This meant that I had to give a theory and practical examination to get one. Well, no issues with that. Driving is in my blood and failing in it….. hell no. The theory test was an absolute cake walk and it took me 5 min to complete a 35 min exam. I really pity those people who fail in it. Seriously, people do fail in theory tests and I wonder how they manage to do it. Moving on, I started taking lessons and I must say it went pretty smooth considering I was an INDIAN driver. There were those odd arguments with my instructor but the Vietnamese guy told me in simple words, “you no listen to me, you fail. Money waste. You listen to me, you pass.” Keeping that in mind and of course the money (60 AUD – 2100 rupees for a one and half hour lesson is by no means cheap to me) I carried on with the lessons. And again, how could I ever fail a driving test….. ?
It took me 7 driving lessons and a lot of ‘getting rid of old habits, atleast till the test’ and I was ready for D day. It all went pretty smooth with my examiner being more interested in knowing about my parents and grandparents and India, him being an anglo Indian. It definitely did not help as I was obviously trying to get everything right. There were a few erks and from memory I did some things that my Vietnamese instructor strictly told me not to do. But I passed with flying colors and I was satisfied. Life felt good, I got an Australian drivers license and I could now drive anywhere in the world without much hassel. My driving is much better and all the old rough edges have been smoothened. This has added to the Oz experience as well….
This experience made me realize how dangerous driving in India really is or for that matter in third world countries. It feels like as if people hate themselves to an extent that they don’t mind losing their life on the roads. The other day I was in a car being driven by a friend who has been driving for not more than 6 months. He said to me, ‘I highly rate you as a driver and you are safe too. I also want to know from you about car control. I am going to drive now and I want you to comment on my driving and tell me what mistakes I make. Chalega na bhai…?’ What I witnessed from there on, in a nutshell, is somewhat like this. Cutting lanes (not that I don’t do it in India, but it is the manner in which I am talking about. It was scary), squeezing the vehicle in every pocket seen between vehicles (no patience whatsoever to queue up behind the vehicle ahead at junctions and roundabouts leading to a bottleneck), the ever so famous-dangerous left side overtaking, late braking and speeding in crowded areas.
“arre bhai traffic area mein kaun kidhar se aa raha hai who barobar dikhta hai. Open road pe kaisa, kaun kidhar se bhi aa jata hai and raste pe gadi daal deta hai. Who jyada risky hai. Mera bike pe 120 pe aise hi accident hua tha”. [In a congested area, its easy to notice traffic flow whereas in an open road u never know who enters the road randomly without signaling or even looking out for vehicles. This is how I once met with an accident on my bike in an open road.] – said my friend. I just kept quiet after this and was confused what to comment about his driving.
A new driver is like a small child, what you teach him is what he is for the rest of his life. With no proper licensing services and driver examination systems, most of the people in India learn to drive by themselves and form their own rules of driving. This is what makes it very dangerous and considering that the number of vehicles on Indian roads is skyrocketing, ram jaane (god knows) what will happen.
While taking driving lessons for the driving exam in Australia, I learnt about the potential dangers while driving and also the rules which I never would have understood otherwise in my lifetime in India. Introduction to the blind spot was an eye opener. For those of you who don’t know what it is, I insist u look it up online.
Driving is all about some common sense, logical thinking, being considerate towards our fellow commuters and a bit more than that. For some reason people, especially on two wheels, find it smart to drive leisurely in the middle of the road turning a blind eye and deaf ear to honking vehicles. Some people consider driving as a way to get from one place to another, but to me it’s more about the experience. Think of making each journey as joyful and relaxing as a steam bath or a Jacuzzi. Driving is an art and just like not everyone is a painter, not everyone is a driver. All I am saying is that keep in mind the difference between warm and cool colors, real life painting and still painting, portrait, etc… everything should fall in place. And yes, familiarize yourselves with driving rules even though no one will ever ask you about them, in India atleast.
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