I passed my roadtest yesterday.

What a silly thing to put on the blog. Who cares if I pass the test? Of course I care. You know why? I guess I have never achieved any great things in my life. I never felt happy when I got my engineering degree. But I felt extremely happy when I learnt typing. I mean when I was able to type properly. Oh my God I still remember how I used to feel right after I learnt typing. Even now I feel really really happy when ever I think that I am able to type really fast. Actually I never cared about learning typing. But one day I was sitting in a net center in my city Hyderabad, India and typing an email to university. One of my friend was sitting next to me. Suddenly he said "you idiot stop typing with that one finger. Have you got leprosy to type like that". I was literally shocked at his coments and asked him what made him to pass remarks like that suddenly. I wasn not angry but kind of embarrassed. Then he said there were two girls watching us from behind and started laughing looking at the way I was typing. Before I learnt typing, I used to use only one finger to type. I could never bend other fingers. So it looked like I had leprosy. Then next day day it self I went and joined typing inistitute. I went for four weeks. I wanted to go for another 4 weeks. Actually I paid for another month too. But I wanted to learn in my way. The teacher at that inistitute didn't allow me to learn on my own. She wanted me to follow the proper way. I told her I was no going to take any certification test, but it was just for my satisfaction. But she insisted on learning in their style. So I had to stop. But anyway by that time I was able to type really good. So now in a way I type fast, I guess pretty good. For me I always felt it was a big achievement. I think I always feel like that because it gave me immense satisfaction. I felt I learnt one practical thing.

Now I come to the title of my blog today. I took learning permit in the month of September (28th), 2006. After that I was practising driving now and then. Finally I went for the test on 13th of this month (september, 2007). Actually I was very confident, in fact I guess I was overconfident. I failed the test. Some how I felt bad to think that I failed. But I was not at all embarrassed. Lot of my friends told me that there is one fat guy who doesn't like dark skinned people. I am not sure whether that is ture or false. But at one point of time I felt the same way. He asked me to do turn around. As I was not clear what he wanted, I asked specifically whether I should do 3 point turn. Then he started explaining how to do 3 point turn. Then I said I know how to do it and I could do it now it self. Then he said we are not going to do it today. So I thought it was ok. But at the end he gave me 7 points for that. The funny thing is I got 20 points at the end of test. If I get more than 21, I fail in the test. Then he counted those points and added another 4 points at the end giving some stupid reasons. I guess he just wanted to fail me. I did one big mistake in hill side parking. I got 9 points for that. But that's fine because I did mistake. But the 7 points for the turn around was really bad. I guess if he had failed me just because of my skin color, then he would definitely get his punishment.

Anyway I went to the test second time on 27th, September, 2007 i.e. yesterday. This time I passed the test. I guess I was lucky to have different tester this time. This tester was good and strict. But definitely not racist. He talked to me nicely and asked me whether I had any doubts. Then I asked him about turn around and he said I need to do 3 point turn. But the funny thing was even though I passed the test, I knew that I was not that good this time. I was definitely fluent on the road on first time. Second time I was really tense. I was so tense I forgot certain important points like turning the wheels towards traffic after parking on the uphill. First time I had very good control on speed. But the second time my speed control was totally bad. I got 4 points for that. Even steering was bad when I was doing turn around (3 point turn). Anyway I narrowly escaped. This time I got 20 points.

But the thing is I have a great confidence in my driving abilities. You might laugh now reading this sentence. But I know why? Because I might feel nervous to take test. I mean if some one is observing you all the time, its natural to feel nervous. More over it was my birthday. So it is kind of feels bad if I fail on my birthday. So it made me feel more pressure. Generally I don't lose my cool in very tough situations. So I feel I can handle tough situations on the road in a composed manner. I feel like this because of one reason. When ever I sat on the front seat while my friend driving the car, I never felt scared or never made my frined to feel tense or never scream even in the worst situations. So I know for sure that I can handle the pressure on the road. More over I will definitely try to follow rules 100 percent. Following rules always avoids accidents not only to us, but also to others on the road.

I think this is my second biggest achievement after typing. I am sure it might sound weird to you. Right? For me not. This is the second practical thing I learnt after typing. I mean I could use driving in my everyday life. I am not sure about other things like engineering degree, etc. I mean I might get job because of that. But I might have to take some practical training for that job. That means it just helps you get job. That's it. It makes you reach that place. After that again we have to learn really stuff, I mean practical stuff. I guess for me that gives satisfaction.

This week I scheduled a date for my motorcycle learner permit test. This is on 13th of this month. In India I always wanted to ride motorbike. But I could never do that because I could never afford bike. I mean bikes are expensive looking at what we make. I am sure you might have got this doubt that there is no need to have a bike for learning. That's true. But I always felt shy to ask my friends. I know that's my weakness. But not bad quality. Right? I mean it doesn't harm other people. Of course it didn't harm me too. But it definitely made me stop learning lot of things. Finally now I am trying to learn riding motorbike here in USA. My friend's sister has a bike. I am trying to learn using that. Anyway I will take the learner's permit first. In the mean time if I feel confident about rding motorbike, then I will go for road test too. I hope I will pass the motorbike road test first time it self. Let's see what happens.

One day I will try to learn things like flying helicapter, aircraft and driving motor boats, ships, etc. List looks like too much. Right? May be I am too ambitious. Who knows? I might achieve all my aspirations and goals. I never expected my self to come this far. In a way I always felt I could do everything and everything works out for me. I guess that is ture. So considering all these things I am sure I will fulfil all my dreams. Finally I wish good luck to my self. Chalo Sreedhar, put the full stop now. Otherwise it never ends. Be a good guy and do some thing else for now.

cheers,
Sreedhar.