I'm afraid my experience was quite the opposite. I started, determined to do it the right way, but ended up confusedly caving in.
After passing all the written rounds easily, I brought the car around to pick up the officer. I drove fairly flawlessly around Koramangla, tackling the heel & toe on the hill with ease. Finally the officer said, "Do a right reverse turn". I asked whether I should reverse to the right or if I should reverse in such a manner that I go to the right in the end. The officer gruffly said that I should do whatever. So I reversed right to end up facing left. He irritatedly said, "Go go" motioning me towards the testing center in a huff. Having performed all other actions perfectly, I felt that the "right" reverse turn would have been "wrong" either way. I didn't even know (nor did I want to) how to ask the Officer if he wanted "some tea with biscuits". Some weeks later, on the advice of a neighbor, I enrolled in the famous Shridhar driving school. Shridhar driving school, my neighbor had allegedly assured my mother, was so reputable that the DMV traffic policemen regularly passed its high calibre graduates. Shridhar driving school, as it turned out, was also a stationery shop below the DMV. Past the tempting array of Camel Geometry boxes, I remember eying the Hero pens in their wrappers as I wiggled onto a tall stool in front of the cashier. I wondered if it was somehow a simulation of the driving seat. Well - I knew how to drive, so this driving school thing should be a breeze, and if it earned me the credibility stamp that the DMV was looking for, it was worthwhile. The cashier took my payment for driving lessons. And then asked me to go get in my car. Puzzled, I asked who would be coming with me. "Officer". Aha, how clever I thought, an Officer himself trains the candidates - no wonder everyone passed the test! Shridhar driving school, far from driving any candidate anywhere, was a stationAry shop. And the payment I had made for "driving lessons" was the basis of a Memorandum of Understanding between Shridhar Stationery and the DMV Officer. From the balcony above, the DMV officer asked me to start the car and move it a very bewildered 10 feet forward. I peered up through the windshield for the next instruction to see the Officer scribbling on a pad. A tea boy who had, just a few minutes ago, anonymously handed out tea at Shridhar Stationery, waved his metal tray and signalled a "thumbs up" to me and Shridhar down below. Still a bit dazed, I returned to the awkwardly tall stool in front of Shridhar for 2 hours while my paperwork was done (covered by the fee for the "lessons") and my photo laminated for an International license. Having since endanged the lives of countless folks in St. Louis, MO. I still don't know what a right reverse turn is. Anjana. ----- Original Message ---- From: Abhijit Menon-Sen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 11:24:11 PM Subject: Re: [silk] Lost and Found At 2008-02-27 20:57:14 -0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > Suppose each of us were to follow up any one of our dealings with the > government in the fair, honest, right and proper way, no matter how > long it takes - would that be a way to "participate in the machinery"? When I wanted to get a driver's license (in 1999), everyone told me to go to one of the many driving schools, which would get me the license without the hassle of going to the RTO. Off I went to a driving school, where the proprietor was very rude to me (though I forget exactly how). I was sufficiently annoyed that I decided to get the license the "right way", i.e. by going to the nearest RTO and writing the test and whatnot. Well, it was really simple. I got the right forms, filled them in, gave the (hilarious, multiple-choice[1]) exam for a learner's license, then returned some months later to get my license, found out that they had accidentally issued a motorcycle learner's license earlier, got them to fix that (which they did with a minimum of fuss: it's the same test for either), got a medical certificate from a doctor sitting around nearby, gave my (embarrassingly simple[2]) driving test, and got my license the next day. It was dreadfully satisfying to get my license the Right Way, when *everyone* I knew had paid a driving school to get it for them. (Hi Anjana. Welcome to silk.) -- ams 1. "What would you do if you are speeding downhill?" "c) Grip the steering wheel more tightly" 2. I went to the empty, closed-off parking lot where the examiner was, and realised that he expected me to bring the car there. I told him to wait, went to the outside parking lot and brought the car over. I got out of the car, and he signed my form, and sent me on my way. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs
