This is a small story, narrating and sometimes exaggerating the tale of how I got my learner's license (or at least how I got to the position where I'm about to get it :) ).
I had been driving around for a few days with my driving instructor and one of my friends each morning, scaring a few pedestrians who dared come near me and sweating in my seat before my instructor informed me and my friend that for us to learn driving officially we have to have a thing called learner's license. It gave us the permission to scare pedestrians and be scared by buses for a month and after that was the ring of fire : the driving test !
So after a bit elaboration we got the necessary documents from our homes and went to the Road Transport Officers (RTOs) office. It was on the third floor of a very old building noted by a bustling unhappy crowd and peculiar absence of both windows and fans. We were accompanied by a guy from driving school who negotiated for us in Kannada since most of the people there spoke either that or Hindi. While going in we were met by a tall hunk blocking the way and only let us pass after scanning through our files and giving us a look that said 'Don't try anything !'. We stood in a queue and after a few minutes went to the RTO to get our papers signed. He out rightly rejected our applications saying that our documents were not sufficient and refused to hear anything back.
That was no the end of it though ! We decided to attest the documents we had and go back. The driving school was very unselfish and told us that they could get each sheet of paper attested at 100 Rs each. Dumbstruck we said 'bye' and decided that our dean was not such a bad guy after all !
Two days later everything was in place and we got ready for another round of slaughter. This time we stared back equally at the gate keeper and he let us through with a grunt. We made it past the first room and got to second the room where a man in khaki was watching over the written the test for LL. It had 15 questions and we had to get 10 correct to pass. On seeing me (wearing a 3/4th and a buttoned up plain shirt ) something that was civil inside him snapped. He barked out asking me whether I had any sense to dress like this to a government office with ladies in there. I didn't know whether to laugh or lash back at him. I wanted to yell 'for God's sake this is Bangalore !'. However my brain somehow managed to work a bit and I decided to walk out. Screw LL ! I would fly star ships ! forget puny cars. Luckily the driving school person came to my rescue and I got to write the test. It was quite tough, there were no instructions on the paper and most of it didn't make sense. I wondered how anyone passed. My friend walked up to the guy and he got the paper evaluated. I had nothing more to write so I followed him after a minute and watched as my paper was evaluated and discovered that I had made only 7 and failed. By the doorstep my friend was standing with a silly smile and on seeing me pointed to the wall behind us. There smiling at us were the instructions ! He also had failed with 8/15.
After three days and hardened resolves we decided to go back, armed with the knowledge of how to answer the paper. Contrary to our expectations we passed the test and is due the LL :D We did not hesitate to walk out with our heads held high, eyes locked in death stare at the ominous gate keeper for we had made it !!!
Victory ! :)
I had been driving around for a few days with my driving instructor and one of my friends each morning, scaring a few pedestrians who dared come near me and sweating in my seat before my instructor informed me and my friend that for us to learn driving officially we have to have a thing called learner's license. It gave us the permission to scare pedestrians and be scared by buses for a month and after that was the ring of fire : the driving test !
So after a bit elaboration we got the necessary documents from our homes and went to the Road Transport Officers (RTOs) office. It was on the third floor of a very old building noted by a bustling unhappy crowd and peculiar absence of both windows and fans. We were accompanied by a guy from driving school who negotiated for us in Kannada since most of the people there spoke either that or Hindi. While going in we were met by a tall hunk blocking the way and only let us pass after scanning through our files and giving us a look that said 'Don't try anything !'. We stood in a queue and after a few minutes went to the RTO to get our papers signed. He out rightly rejected our applications saying that our documents were not sufficient and refused to hear anything back.
That was no the end of it though ! We decided to attest the documents we had and go back. The driving school was very unselfish and told us that they could get each sheet of paper attested at 100 Rs each. Dumbstruck we said 'bye' and decided that our dean was not such a bad guy after all !
Two days later everything was in place and we got ready for another round of slaughter. This time we stared back equally at the gate keeper and he let us through with a grunt. We made it past the first room and got to second the room where a man in khaki was watching over the written the test for LL. It had 15 questions and we had to get 10 correct to pass. On seeing me (wearing a 3/4th and a buttoned up plain shirt ) something that was civil inside him snapped. He barked out asking me whether I had any sense to dress like this to a government office with ladies in there. I didn't know whether to laugh or lash back at him. I wanted to yell 'for God's sake this is Bangalore !'. However my brain somehow managed to work a bit and I decided to walk out. Screw LL ! I would fly star ships ! forget puny cars. Luckily the driving school person came to my rescue and I got to write the test. It was quite tough, there were no instructions on the paper and most of it didn't make sense. I wondered how anyone passed. My friend walked up to the guy and he got the paper evaluated. I had nothing more to write so I followed him after a minute and watched as my paper was evaluated and discovered that I had made only 7 and failed. By the doorstep my friend was standing with a silly smile and on seeing me pointed to the wall behind us. There smiling at us were the instructions ! He also had failed with 8/15.
After three days and hardened resolves we decided to go back, armed with the knowledge of how to answer the paper. Contrary to our expectations we passed the test and is due the LL :D We did not hesitate to walk out with our heads held high, eyes locked in death stare at the ominous gate keeper for we had made it !!!
Victory ! :)
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