We were driving in Ireland yesterday, when I saw a car with a learner sign and was told the driver had to be a learner for two years before he or she was issued a license to drive. India, I found had one of the largest numbers of road accidents in the world, so here’s my imaginary experience with a driving school:
The instructor at the driving school looked up from the road map he was trying to read. “Don’t worry sir,” he said, giving me a toothy grin, “License, isn’t a problem, we will get you a driving license within a week.”
“Within a week,” I exclaimed, “I hardly know the inside of a car right now.”
“It doesn’t matter what you know or don’t know,” said the instructor patiently, “you will have the necessary certificate within seven days.”
“What are the timings for my driving classes every day?” I asked.
“We are not very particular,” said the instructor, “we know how much people are pressed for time, we are very understanding. If you can come for the classes well and good, if not, it doesn’t matter.”
“But how can I get a license if I don’t attend your driving classes?” I asked quite confused.
“Ah,” said the instructor with a smile. “Our boss is very well connected; his second wife’s brother’s best friend works in the licensing office and for a small fee the work is done.”
“I see,” I said without really seeing anything.
“But if you have the time,” said the instructor moving a little closer towards me, “it would be good if you could attend our theory class.”
“Good!” I exclaimed, “I’m glad I will learn some aspects of driving at least.”
“We will have an ex-traffic police inspector to lecture the class,” said the instructor quickly.
“An ex-traffic police inspector,” I said, “Sounds very impressive.”
“His lectures are always jam packed,” said the instructor happily. “Last week he spoke on how to drive past a red light without being caught and the week before he spoke on the exact amount to pay a cop if ever caught, you see people have the tendency of either paying too much or too little.”
“I see,” I whispered uneasily.
“You will benefit immensely from our driving school,” said the instructor, unfolding a bundle and showing a form in front of me.
“Thank you,” I said, shoving the form back to him and trying to move away.
“Where are you going?” shouted the instructor running after me. “Don’t you want a license for yourself?”
“Yes I do,” I said, “but I want to learn how to drive.”
“How to drive?” asked the man in a whisper, hurriedly looking around in every direction and then quickly pushing me out. “Sir, please don’t scare the other students away, I think you have come to the wrong place..!”
————————
Would love to hear from you in the COMMENTS section below…and IF YOU WANT TO RECEIVE BOB’S BANTER EVERYDAY, PLEASE SEND YOUR NAME AND WHATSAPP PHONE NO TO [email protected]
————————————————–
ENROLL FOR THE WRITER’s COURSE…
…Get trained to write powerfully by the author, whose article you just read! Don’t wait! Send a thumbs up for details to 9892572883 and let Robert Clements train you in his easy and comfortable way Let the power of WORDS spoken and written effectively and forcefully, change your life! Join the Writer’s and Speaker’s Course. Send a thumbs-up to 9892572883 now!-
Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.
Ha ha.
Most of your jibes reflect the present reality in our driving schools.
It is therefore not surprising that our driving license is not recognised overseas.
What’s more, with the recent “high profile” hit-and-run cases, we can easily get even “a license to kill.” ( Self-proclaimed James Bonds’ who should be sent to jail.)
The scary part Shylaja is that our driving license is recognised all over the world. Only some countries need an international license, which puts the world at risk with our unlearned abilities.