Of cars and Sayesha

I'm bad at cars. Very bad. Really really bad.

I was telling a friend about my boss' flashy red sportscar.
He asked, "So what car is it?"
"Well, errr... flashy red sportscar?"
"No, I mean what model?"
"Well, errr... flashy red sportscar?"

I grinned like an idiot. I really had no more words to describe it. I can't identify cars. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can only tell if a car looks cool or not. Now don't give me the raised eyebrow "Really??"! Do you know as much Bollywood as I do? Gotcha! Hah!

When I was young, my Dad was transferred to this tiny town for two years. The town was so tiny that everyone knew everyone else. Honestly! If you were out on the roads, you would invariably bump into someone you knew every 10 seconds or so, and you would have to stop and chat. Kinda like walking to the water cooler at work.

The town was so small that there was not much to put it on the map, and so my O and A level results made the townspeople very proud. I was considered kind of a mini-celebrity there, and the local papers would carry my photo and articles about me now and then.

That was the town where Dad tried to teach me how to drive. On weekends, Dad and I would set off early in the morning and I would drive the car around.

Till the day, I rammed the car into a shoe shop.

It was 5 in the morning, and so luckily the shop was closed. And nope, I did not hurt anybody. So stop grinning!

Later in the day, I went to a shop to buy something. The shopkeeper grinned at me in a very weird way. The following is in its original form in order to preserve the rustic nature of the conversation.

"Toh? Subah subah gaadi thonk diye joota ka dukaan mein?" He asked.
("So? Rammed the car into a shoe shop early in the morning?")

"Aapko kaise maaloom?" I looked at him suspiciously.
("How do you know?")

"Haha! Sabko maaloom hai!" He grinned again.
("Haha! Everyone knows!")

"Achha?? Isko bhi paper mein kaahe nahin chhap diye??" Yes, I was quite the hot-blooded teenager.
("Really? Why didn't you get this published in the papers as well??")

It was very annoying and very discouraging. I realised that a town where it was news if I sneezed, was not the best place to test-drive. So I gave up. I have not touched the wheel since.

I love long drives. But I believe I'll make a terrible driver. One of my friends supports this by saying, "You shouldn't be allowed to drive people around. You're too hyperactive to be a responsible driver." I have a feeling she's right.

But one of my cousins says, "It's the people who think they can't drive, that have the potential to be the best drivers. That's because they know the importance of driving well."

Ah, well. Maybe there is hope for Sayesha :)