Mini milestone....
If we had crossed paths today, you would surely notice my happy contented smile. I would tell you even without any prompting that I have cleared my practical exam for driving. It is now behind me. I don't take to driving like a fish to water, erm, something like my attempts with swimming, but I realise that this small and important hurdle is through and I can only look forward to driving more and more in time till I absolutely exorcise the demons. On that note, even elsewhere in blogsphere I did read its been raining licenses :D...lots of happy bloggers :)
The whole of last week was a busy one with practice lessons ... the manoeuvres and what not. Driving up and down the roads around the examination center....being wary of no entry signs, long lefts, short rights....instructions of the driving instructor. All of this kept repeating in my dreams - used to wake up with hands aching as if I had been clutching the steering wheel all night. The exam process here is such that I could have two attempts for the exam first time around, after which I would need another 6 hours of driving lessons and then two attempts again. The time, money, and effort involved would be monumental and I was not even keen on a second attempt the first time around. Ok, enough bragging, it's only an automatic, but not allowing that to burst my bubble.
The husband thought that I should be through first attempt. I always shake my head at such blatant expectations that he has of me. It is known fact that a minimum of two attempts if not more is the norm here. Through all this I have spoken to two friends about my 'driving predicament' in embarrassing detail and they have been infinitely encouraging. One of them on hearing about my success even messaged that "we are quite relieved to hear that". This reminds me not to be obsessed about my issues and ping people with that only though it feels good to have some encouragement once in a while.
To me personally, what also has helped was when we moved to a totally new place and the driving which I did on my own. That experience did stay with me, though for almost 3 years I did not drive.
Ok, to clarify a muddled post, earlier I was driving on a provisional license valid for 3 years, time enough in which I would need to take the practical test. Yours truly never felt confident enough in the first 3 months to attempt it. Then we moved out to another place, and though in the next 9 months I did drive a lot more there, it was far to make it to the exam center on my own around the old place. Don't ask me why I could not take the practical exam at the new place, it is just that this particular exam center has been lucky for a lot of fellow Indians. Then a move back to India happened and the provisional license just expired in that period.
With the new rules, one can't renew an expired prov. license, one needs to reappear for the theory test(which has a validity of 3 years), then 6 hours of mandatory lessons with a driving school, then attempt the practical test (a maximum of 2 times). If one is not through, another 6 hours of driving lessons, and two takes for practical again. SO on and so forth...
I think I will stop here as I am rambling on and on about an issue which for most people is so everyday like brushing teeth or making pasta with white sauce. The latter is again not that easy for me :)
The whole of last week was a busy one with practice lessons ... the manoeuvres and what not. Driving up and down the roads around the examination center....being wary of no entry signs, long lefts, short rights....instructions of the driving instructor. All of this kept repeating in my dreams - used to wake up with hands aching as if I had been clutching the steering wheel all night. The exam process here is such that I could have two attempts for the exam first time around, after which I would need another 6 hours of driving lessons and then two attempts again. The time, money, and effort involved would be monumental and I was not even keen on a second attempt the first time around. Ok, enough bragging, it's only an automatic, but not allowing that to burst my bubble.
The husband thought that I should be through first attempt. I always shake my head at such blatant expectations that he has of me. It is known fact that a minimum of two attempts if not more is the norm here. Through all this I have spoken to two friends about my 'driving predicament' in embarrassing detail and they have been infinitely encouraging. One of them on hearing about my success even messaged that "we are quite relieved to hear that". This reminds me not to be obsessed about my issues and ping people with that only though it feels good to have some encouragement once in a while.
To me personally, what also has helped was when we moved to a totally new place and the driving which I did on my own. That experience did stay with me, though for almost 3 years I did not drive.
Ok, to clarify a muddled post, earlier I was driving on a provisional license valid for 3 years, time enough in which I would need to take the practical test. Yours truly never felt confident enough in the first 3 months to attempt it. Then we moved out to another place, and though in the next 9 months I did drive a lot more there, it was far to make it to the exam center on my own around the old place. Don't ask me why I could not take the practical exam at the new place, it is just that this particular exam center has been lucky for a lot of fellow Indians. Then a move back to India happened and the provisional license just expired in that period.
With the new rules, one can't renew an expired prov. license, one needs to reappear for the theory test(which has a validity of 3 years), then 6 hours of mandatory lessons with a driving school, then attempt the practical test (a maximum of 2 times). If one is not through, another 6 hours of driving lessons, and two takes for practical again. SO on and so forth...
I think I will stop here as I am rambling on and on about an issue which for most people is so everyday like brushing teeth or making pasta with white sauce. The latter is again not that easy for me :)
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