Licensed to ..... DRIVE!!!!

Back home in India getting a license is one of the easiest things possible. You just register in a driving school and learn a little driving and then go for your road test with an assurance that you will get the license. The driving school will ensure that you get the license unless you really flop the test. Of course we can be a little adventurous and try to get the license on our own. Here in US getting a license is anything but easy.

I had heard a lot of stories about how tough it was to get a license. I always took it with a pinch of salt. After all how tough could it be to drive the car? But once I landed here and ventured out to the RMV I started believing the legend. My adventures with the RMV spans over 4 chapters. So here goes.

Chapter 1

First step is the written test to get the permit. Before I could go for this written test I was asked to study or atleast read the driver's manual. Now this was something new to me. The book had so many pages and there were so many numbers. Phew... How was I ever going to read through the book and memorize all the fines and penalties mentioned there? I had a tough time trying to cram the wordlist for GRE. Now this?? Anyway with some perseverance I finished the book, obviously I didn't memorize any of the numbers. I just hoped none of it would appear in the test. We headed to the RMV and after standing in the long queues we got to know that we needed one more document. So much for all the learning. We headed back and decided to give it a shot some other day.

Chapter 2

This time we were more prepared. We took all possible documents we had and headed out to get the permit. Luckily they accepted the documents and allowed me to write the test. The hiccup was that I had forgotten whatever I had read hurriedly a few weeks ago. I just hoped that the test would be easy. Last time I was at the RMV I saw a few people who had failed the written test. With butterflies in my stomach I headed for the exam hall. The test seems to be a blur now. All I remember is I had to get atleast 15 or 20 questions right out of the 25 questions. With bated breath I answered each question as it appeared on the monitor. I finished it successfully in 10 minutes. When I stepped out my husband thought I had flunked it since I came out so fast. Fortunately I got my permit that day.

Chapter 3

I started preparing myself for the road test. Driving was not a problem for me. I had to focus more on parking, especially parallel parking. Once I booked my road test we headed out and practiced the parking for 3 - 4 days. Everyone we knew had some words of wisdom to share. "Turn your head and look behind you before you change lanes." "Look at the mirrors every few seconds and make sure the official notices you look at the mirrors." "Drive slowly and carefully." "Don't drive below the speed limit.". My head was filled with all the advise and in all this time I forgot to look through the manual. Little did I know this small error on my part was going to cost me. We headed out to the RMV again on a Friday afternoon for the road test.

After filling the form we were asked to wait for an instructor. A grumpy looking man came out and asked me to get into the car. As soon as I stepped in he asked me to show the hand signs. I stared at him with pitiful eyes and tried to show whatever signs I could recollect from India. Who uses handsigns here? He had me stumped right there. He said the signs were wrong and that was the end of it. We were sent packing home :(

Chapter 4

I fumed for some time over this failed attempt. Nevertheless I booked another test the very next week. Since this centre was full I booked in Worcester. That place could be a nightmare for new drivers. The roads are bad and most of them rise very steeply. With bated breath I went to give this test. All I remember is following every instruction to the tee and driving extra carefully and successfully getting my licence. Hurrah!!!! Now I'm licensed to ... drive!!!

Bittersweet Victory

Yesterday I woke up to the wonderful news that one Indian dream had come true. The elusive gold medal for an individual event had at last been won by Abhinav Bindra. It couldn't have come at a better time. While India is shining in a lot of areas sports has been one area where we lack luster. This win is a very good thing.

The victory though is a bittersweet event. Sweet for the reasons given above and bitter because it took so many years for such a huge country to win a single gold medal. Bindra will be hailed as a hero for a few weeks. After that he will fade away just like the other Indian Olympians like Rathore & Malleshwari.

Once the initial celebrations are over with and the numerous felicitation ceremonies are finished with he will endorse 2-3 products and then as usual be put on the backstage so that we can go back to glorifying our cricket players. We never learn that there are other much challenging games in this world apart from cricket. Even if someone has the determination to pursue a different sport, they are ridiculed and sidelined.

Why is it that though our national game is supposedly hockey we don't even know who is in the hockey team? What happened to our soccer team? The only soccer player many of us may know is Baichung Bhutia. What about after him? Why is it that we are unable to develop any swimmers when Chinese, Koreans & Japanese, who have a similar physique, are able to garner so many medals in swimming?

I hope the Indian Olympic committee does some serious thinking and proactively encourages young talents and starts preparing better teams for future Olympics. Or if they feel that cricket is the only game that deserves all attention then let's just scratch the Olympic committee and refrain from sending any athletes for future Olmpic games.

Now I part with some photos from the medal ceremony of Abhinav Bindra, courtesy my friend who had the good fortune to witness this event live in Beijing.

A proud moment when the Indian flag flies high...

Aadi Perukku

My husband & I were savouring our first cup of coffee on Saturday when my mother called from India. She reminded me that it was Aadi perukku (or padinettam perukku - falls on the 18th day of the Tamil month Aadi). Since it is not like diwali or pongal it never occured to me that the festival was on that day.

All the plans changed and soon I made the traditional kalanda sadam which is special for the occasion. The menu turned out to be semiya payasam, cabbage kootu, coconut rice, tamarind rice and appalam. Once all the cooking was done we offered some prayers to the Lord and then had our meal.

We went to the temple in the evening. My God!! The temple was so crowded. One one side Ayappan abishekam was taking place. On the other end prayers were being offered to Andal. We reached the temple on time to see all the artis. After that we took part in the Ayyappan poojai.

After the Ayyappan poojai they had full course of prasadam. We had sakkarai pongal, tamarind rice, lemon rice, aviyal and curd rice. The food had that divine taste one associates with temple food. Something is really extraordinary about the food temples serve. It has a special taste. Once we had our share of the prasadam we swapped places with the volunteers and started serving. There was a biiiiig line of devotees. When we thought the crowd had dwindled a fresh set of people appeared out of nowhere. It was just amazing about how many people turned up that day.

By the time we got back it was almost 9 p.m. It turned out to be a day well spent.