Thinkin' on your stomach.

Effort. And that was what pulled me through an excruciating 30 minute session of driving lessons today. My mornings, for quite some time now, start with "Ignition,shifting to first gear and stepping on the pedal." At 7:30, a middle-aged chap chug chugs along and brings his 'miniscule' (Note word) Maruti to a stop in front my house. Self, of all the people who would have been normally be awake at the same time, will be dutifully waiting for him outside the door. Today, there was a slight drizzle..the atmosphere was perfecto for a jolly car ride. My thoughts in such fashion were disrupted by the sound of something that resembled a fog horn more than anything else. Awaiting my eager eyes as they looked out on to the road was a 'gargantuan'(Note word also) automobile in jarring blue. If anything, this monstrosity shook away any remnants of sleepiness in me. The instructor, with a noticeably wicked grin on his face, beckoned.
I got in. Or more correctly, this 'being' swallowed me. Yours truly, who till then had been a little arrogant at grasping the nuances of driving, pretty quickly,lost his colour. As I sat there, cramped (would you believe it?!) for knee space in a vehicle I thought would encompass the entire locality, I realized that some controls were quite different from those in gentle Marutis. Thankfully,all the stuff that was alien to me (a certain amount of 'knob-pulling' had to be done) were done by the instructor. Now, except for an unwielding gear, the other paraphernelia seemed similar. There was a back-seat occupant also;another student who had just completed the day's drive. He looked as if he had gone through hell..as i looked onto his pallid face,I thought he would froth at the mouth any moment.

So I started. Unfortunately, this thing of evil, didnt. Perhaps it didnt think fit to do so. After considerable effort, of which I have already made references to, it budged. My house is on a slope and it took the focussing of every ounce of my energy onto my leg to effect the brake. As we moved on, I realized that the accelerator was as sensitive as Schwarzanegger. The steering seemed to have a mind of its own, differing with my actions, the every other second. After half-an-hour of zig-zagging, I returned to my source in one piece. The ordeal wasnt over that quickly. As we reached the infamous sloping road, I realized that the brake was stuck.The instructor, crackpot that he was, seemed to think that I wasnt pressing it properly. So he jammed at the brakes(with my toes still over it) HARD. That worked miraculously;a second later, the neighbours noticed someone limping out of a humungous blue fourer.I'll quickly wrap this piece up; my legs are already aching at the reminisce. He seems to have crushed a nerve.

arun