(An article by Raghu. N)
The gold colored Mercury Topaz cruised up the Brower Street and stopped by the curbside at the Road Test point! It was 1:15 pm, and our boyish warrior was all set to whack his 3rd and ultimate road test into a grand-slam victory.
The DMV officer shows up at 1:30 pm, greets Raghu before pushing himself next to the side of Basav, the key performer of the afternoon. The officer wears the lap belt and signals for the start of the test after obtaining the candidate's signature. Watching the officer, Basav quickly wears the lap belt and starts the ignition, which brings up the Hindi songs too. The officer reprimands to switch the cassette player off which Basav complies quietly. Then for a surprising change, the serious faced Basav turns to the officer and asks him whether his seat belts are on (Basav wanted to check the officers driver's license!!!) and the officer nods positive rather peevishly.
With a swift shoulder check with the left indicators on Basav takes off gently and merges into the traffic… Raghu strolls on the Brower street side walks pondering about the happenings on the Basav's road test itinerary!!!
At last…the gold colored car shows up after 15 minutes and Raghu races up to the car… The officer briefs Basav about the test and turns towards Raghu and announces "It is all set for now". And guys… that day was the D-day for our Buddoo, earning him all the praiseworthy congratulations. This was the instance he was eagerly awaiting right from the time of obtaining the learner's permit 7 months back, a longtime back though!
Here is what happened exactly during the test as it comes
straight from the horse's mouth…
"Thank god! The officer took me on the right turn
instead of the left like the previous time's roller coaster. I stopped near
the first traffic light and was about to turn left past the incoming car,
thanks to myself, recovered and yielded the right of way and then turned.
Then I performed the 3 point turn as asked, and I bet, that man next to me
was impressed to the core!!! Then I was asked to parallel park behind a mini
truck, which went astray and I hit the curb. What a nice gentleman he was,
letting me make another attempt behind a car. I excelled this time and the
officer admitted me to be the gentleman. Apparently motivated by these successes
I cruised to nearly 40 mph on the main road and at once the examiner asked
me "What is the posted speed limit". Quickly realizing that I might be exceeding
the limits, I stealthily answered 40 MPH, only to rebuked again by him saying
"No it is 30 mph"… I was not slow in quickly slowing down the speed down to
25 mph and exclaimed within myself "Could this be my last test?!!!"… And….
Believe it or not friends… It was… I made it…"
When asked for the Basav's message to our community, he gave
it happily ...And here it is in Bull's own words ( In Kannada,
'Basav' means 'Bull')....
"Hi Guys, I just feel ecstatic about
this achievement... I consider this as my happiest moment in my life. I wasn't
so happy even when I got admission to IIT Madras, because I did that in my
very first attempt itself...But for clearing this road test, I took THREE
attempts... Now it seems like that I have created a record in our community
for the longest time gap of 7 months between learner's permit and clearing
road test. Please don't take it as the example to follow...Or don't try to
break this record. Well, those guys (like Chandru, Kannan,Bharath, Venki,
Sujan, Madhavi, Sonali etc) who used to risk their lives in my car illegally
all these days, can now risk their lives legally......My special thanks for
Raghu, who took me for this 'Road Test of Success' and to Konkat, who took
me earlier for my 'Road Tests of Failures', risking his car, along with his
life....Also my thanks Betty, Pasala, NRA, GADP, STAP teams, Kannan, Azzu
Sonali , who poured their best wishes (& congrats later) for this road
test.. Now I can devote more time, (without worrying about Mama's, while driving
back home alone in nights) for my office work and for our website!!"
