Candid confessions of an amateur driver

I started learning how to drive soon after finishing 12th std in school. And thanks to the super flawed (read corrupt) system, got my drivers' license soon after. It wasn't until a good 3 years later though that I actually learned to drive!
So it's been roughly 6-7 years that I have been driving a car, in the real sense of the word. In conditions involving minimal or no supervision. Most importantly, in conditions involving other cars! Despite this I call myself an amateur driver. Here's a (non-exhaustive) list of why:

1. I cannot, for the love of God, manage reverse parking or parallel parking (or any form of parking apart from just driving into a parking lot!). It's not that I never tried. But after 5,6,7 failed attempts (at the same instance) and judgmental glares of bystanders, I kinda gave up.

2. I follow traffic rules. I drive within the speed limit, stop behind the "Stop line" at red lights, indicate every time I have to turn or change lanes, and keep honking to a minimum. Anyone living in Delhi (and probably most other cities in this country) who has ever done the same, will know the looks one attracts for doing this. I've got reactions ranging from bewildered amusement to downright irritation (sometimes from within my own car!) for doing something as routine as following traffic rules! So, if you can't break lanes and a few safety rules, you are no good as a driver.

3. I do not drive to win. I am mostly not in a rush. And even when I am, it doesn't make me feel like I've lost a race every time a car overtakes mine!

4. Even though I know I am perfectly capable of driving through crazy traffic, I get nervous at the very thought of doing so. I am happiest if offered a lift!

5. If ever required to lead another car (ok that doesn't happen so often coz my awesome sense of direction ;) ) I end up feeling guilty for slowing them down and am actually relieved to allow them to speed ahead as soon as we reach a familiar route!

6. I have tears running down my face at the slightest hint of confrontation and/or judgment from a fellow driver.

7. I am very cautious about Not reinforcing people's beliefs about women being lousy drivers. And every time I make a blunder I feel weighed down by the guilt of having let down womankind!

8. I need a minimum of 30secs to recall which lever opens the fuel tank and which one opens the bonnet...It's happened more than once that I've completely forgotten, much to my embarrassment, to open the fuel tank door!

I recently drove on the highway for the very first time. The driving on traffic-less Mumbai-Pune expressway doesn't count, does it? And I was struck by how Mean people can get on the road!! Everyone wants to get ahead. Everyone wants to stop the others from getting ahead. Specially people with cars. Truck drivers were surprisingly nicer! Weaving my way through what seemed like millions of trucks and trailers, it dawned upon me that even though I don't completely suck at this...driving isn't something I'd ever take up as a hobby! Coming from a family where practically everyone loves to drive, this is almost shameful. Well, almost.

I want to write today

I want to write today. Even though I don't know about what. Maybe because the weather is good...at least under the fan next to an open window :) Maybe because after a long time, I've had some alone time. For all my love of people, I need to switch off sometimes. But mostly, I think it's the weather and the non-agenda-ness of the day.

So well...I was reading a blog post/review about Ye Jawani Hai Diwani just now. Usually, I'd find this sort of writing amusing. Today, it just irked me. It is witty no doubt. And going by the over-enthusiasm of the "comments" that follow, it seems to have hit a chord with a lot of people. Why did it irritate me then? Is it because I loved the movie? Or because it belongs to a genre that is - almost as a rule - ridiculed by people my age (at least the ones I know)? I'm not sure. But here's a piece of my mind...

I think it's fantastic that movies like YJHD are made. They make me happy. I love to see good looking, well dressed people mouthing witty lines. I like to see opulence. I like happy endings (no I don't want to dwell on what happened after the first kiss). I like movies which don't have deprivation or depravation as a central theme. Coz quite simply, I see enough of that in real life. People watch movies for a lot of different reasons. And I respect each reason, no matter how ridiculous it seems to me. So if I don't laugh at your lust for a Marvel superhero, you don't have any right to mock my Dharma/YRF heroes either!

I watch movies to be mesmerised ..to soak in a larger than life melodrama...to relish a tale highlighting (and exaggerating) human emotions. I just  LOVE love stories! Specially those with happy endings :D Add a peppy "balam pichkari" and a soulful "kabira" to it...and I am in entertainment heaven :) So...let the cynics mock away while I dip my toes in the familiarity of Bollywood masala...