For a change, I am going to narrate an experience.

I have to tell something about myself so that the reader could relate better to this. I have an exceptional sense of direction. I never return the same way I make my onward trip. I can easily get confused, because I simply don't register the directions or landmarks in my mind. Direction is a solvable problem in India. You can ask someone on the road or worst case, you get into an auto-rickshaw and reach where ever you set out to go.

Secondly, I have an extra-ordinary sense of "rightness". (oh, not about principles or accuracy). I always, invariably always, have to think which was my right and which was my left. To illustrate this a bit - my walk-in closet in our Phoenix apartment is adjacent to our bath and the light switches for both are adjacent to each other. When we moved in, when I operated the switches the first time, I somehow got into my head that, right switch operates the closet and the left operates the bath. Till this date, I always switch on the light to the closet when I actually want to switch on the lights in the bath and vice-versa. I am that confused when it comes to which is my right and which is my left. I got frustrated so much that, I had to unlearn this right-left concept and I have a better strategy now - the switch closer to the closet operates the closet lights. And now, I seem to be getting better at switching on lights.

And thirdly, while I am reasonably good at quantities (very important when it comes to cooking), I am pathetic when it comes to judging dimensions.

Now, when someone is blessed with these extra-ordinary "skills", it could prove to be a handicap when you are learning to drive. And I have never had a need to drive, till my destiny brought me to United States. Here, even for the essentials one had to go about in Cars. And man, they have high speed on the roads. Every time I see a car whiz past me, when I am on the pedestrian walk, I thank my stars that I have not flown anywhere because of that speed. But yes, one has to face realities, so I set about to learn driving with a good amount of prodding from my hubby.

Here, the driving school system works this way. You attend a 8 hour in-class session, in which they teach us about the signals, taking left and right turn using pre-recorded videos. You take a test, which one invariably clears, go to the motor vehicle division and get your learner's permit. Next you get to drive for 6 hours with an instructor - 2 sessions of 3 hours each. I got my permit and scheduled my driving sessions.

An instructor dropped by my home, walked me to the car marked "student driver". The car had two controls for acceleration and braking - one for him and another for me. He asked me to get into the driver's seat and asked me to get us on the road. (This could be very very scary if you have never been in a driver's seat even on a bi-cycle on main roads before and esp when you are in US.). I asked him which one is the brake and which one is the accelerator. He informed that to my left is brake and right is accelerator. Some how I made a right turn (or was it left?) and set out to drive. My instructor literally yelled at me asking me to maintain my lane. On top of that, he would say watch your speed ,watch the signals, make a right lane switch, accelerate or brake, and would quiz me on who was following me and what happened to the guy who was following me, watch my blind spot, dont accelerate that fast, accelerate gently, brake gently, go easy on the brakes, etc etc. Once at a red light, I had hit the brakes very hard since I was so scared that I might cross over the pedestrian line and stop. We both jerked forward. He got very annoyed and said, 'another time you do this, we are going straight home'. I was about to say that it was a very good idea but the signal turned green unfortunately and we had to go on. Now that is over whelming. I simply cannot, I emphasize, cannot multi-task that quickly. I can multi-task only when I am comfortable with atleast a couple of jobs. I was still not comfortable controlling the steering, or brakes or acceleration and I was supposed to look into a dozen other things as well! I wondered what he was doing sitting next to me. Why can't he look into those, when I try to gain control of the steering.

He took me to a parking lot and taught me to do parallel parking, perpendicular parking and all that. Parking after the first hour, when I haven't got control of the steering? I was bewildered. Needless to say, I did a pathetic job, since I couldn't judge the size of my car. I ran over the cones which were supposed to represent the car in the next parking lot. After one hour or so, when he said brake, I would invariably hit the accelerator. He hadn't noticed till then that I was controlling the brake with my left foot and accelerator with my right, while I am supposed to control both with the same foot. (my left one). So because of my sense of "rightness", I had been yelled at countless times.

Now, I respect his age, his 39+ years of experience in driving and I could understand his frustration. But he got respect my inexperience on the road too. Does he not? I still offered him a cup of coffee or juice when we returned to our apartment complex, when he claimed he was tired. I felt sorry that he had to work so hard at his age.

When I returned home that evening, I asked my hubby to postpone the second session, since I have to take the driving test that day. And that I am scared of the instructor and he keeps scolding me and all that. Driving for the three hours and I was at my wits end, I was just not ready to face the instructor. My husband simply refused saying it wouldn't make sense. And I and my husband go to a wal-mart parking lot to practice and I ran straight over the crib and over the bushes. (again i was accelerating when I should be braking) and that moment I kissed my hopes of getting a license very solid good-bye, but still made it to the class.

Second session was worse than the first. I had lost 2 nights of sleep because of fear and I was a little tired and immensenly scared of both the instructor and driving. When a couple of naughty drivers wanted to pull my leg by either coming too closely behind me or crossing lanes too closely in front of me, I got extremely nervous and ran over the curb and I refused to drive. We made it to a parking lot and the instructor said he would have to fail me if I am this nervous and it made him sad. I was frantically hoping (oh no, I was frantically praying) that he would fail me and I cant take this any further. But we took a break and let me be a passenger while he showed what I should do to clear the test. Somehow next time I made it, thought it was a very rough ride and I got back to the driving school's office. He got my paperwork done and cleared me through saying, "I wouldn't have given the nth chance, if you had not been so sweet and nice. I would not have given the certificate if anyone had been this rough, but I simply couldn't refuse you".

So end of it all, I got my driver's license to serve as my state id because I was being nice and not because I drove well. My friends say certain things happen only with me or only to me. May be this is one of those things. On a positive note, my husband was laughing his heart out, each time I describe how difficult it is to drive or I crib saying there are just too many things. (I don't agree that I am incapable of driving by the way. I cannot since I have a driver's license).

I am surprised by the variety of people I run into and the equally various kind of emotions they invoke in me. I have to say I have no sense of "normalcy" after meeting with or associated with these kinds. Everything sounds absolutely perfect and in place.

To start with, people in my work place. You cant find as disparate a crowd as my bunch of colleagues. One is head over heels in love with Sci-Fiction, air planes and all hi-tech things and calls himself a star gazer. Another wants to give up on IT and enter into civil services and yet another one has a capability of speaking nonstop about nonsensical things and make a joke of about just anything under the sun (as one of us would term it "smooth flow of nonsense"). One is a geek, another one is emotionally profound (calling himself a higher mortal) and yet another has an everyday-girl-next door outlook. One has absolutely no opinion whatsoever on spirituality, religion and does not have a care in the world or at least paints that picture. At the same time, that one is a close friend of the other who is up to her neck deep into spirituality. Sometimes I wonder what in the world was making us bound to each other and even worse, intimate with one another. We might not have one thing in common, except of course, for all the fun we were having together. I am not sure whether I would fit so perfectly in another gang of friends like how I fit amongst these. I have not really thought about our differences until I had to move away to a different work place. I am grateful for their company and our togetherness against all odds. I think I would miss that for my lifetime.

The next episode would invite disapproving looks from my family but it still was an interesting episode. It was one of those times when I had been traveling in Bangalore a long distance. (Well that could be called a long distance in Bangalore - about 13-15 km really). And as is typical in Bangalore, I of course could not rely on any public transport and what is worse, I could not even get an Auto Rickshaw though I was willing to pay double the metered fare. When I was about to give up on my plan, a guy in a 9 seater vehicle (Tavera to be exact) pulled over. I was watching what he was up to. The license plate did not display a yellow board (means a travel agent's cab). It was a private vehicle. For a moment, I thought the guy was a hired driver for some big shot and was using the vehicle to make some cash along the way. Whatever be it, I got a feeling that I could get into the car if it was heading in the same direction I wanted to go. At least half way to my destination should be good. And fortunately, it was going past where I wanted to go and I wasted no time and got into the vehicle. Being the only lady amongst the other travellers, the guy asked a person sitting in the front to get into the back. So I travelled in comfort. One by one every one got dropped off and I still had about 8 kms to reach my destination. Being just the two of us, we started talking. He asked me where I was going. I was going to the marriage hall we had booked for my marriage to pay off the remaining cash. I was telling him the same and he was surprised that I was carrying cash and was waiting for an auto, being a lady. I answered back saying, my mom would not come to terms with traveling in a car with an unknown fellow with cash. She could accept my going by auto, but not this way. He said, "yeah, that is true. People are lot less trusting these days." He was surprised that it was an arranged marriage and I had not even seen the guy when I said yes. He said girls now-a-days are freaks, going to malls and dumping one guy after another. I said that is too generic a description. He said he does not have a high opinion of girls in Bangalore, which I cannot comment on or agree with. Now it was my turn. I asked him about his native place. He said he had come to Bangalore from a village and started working as a driver and been to night schools here in Bangalore. He worked many part time jobs, saved enough to get into amway business and rest was history. He was earning a lot and still working as a driver. He had saved enough to buy the Tavera from his boss, when his boss was about sell. Probably he thought I didnt believe it. He took out his license and registration papers and his passbook to show that he was indeed earning as much as he claimed. I said I needed no proof and that he earned himself a very high opinion. He was worried that my fiance would reprimand me for traveling with some guy I didnt know, which I dismissed off as an impossibility. Surprisingly, all this information was exchanged even when we both didnt know each other's language very well. Half the time, we had to dance about with vivid and vivacious gestures to make ourselves understood to the other. (Man, that would have been quite a sight!) When he dropped me off, I paid him 100 Rs which was way too less than what I would have paid an Auto Rickshaw. He refused to take a penny more saying, it was a pooled transit and that he is good. He even offered help during the marriage which I politely refused. When I narrated this episode in a much greater detail to my friends over lunch, they were glad that I am in one piece and safe. Whether my fiance reprimanded or not, my friends really did. And they kept saying over and over again, that, only I am capable of getting into all these unsafe ventures amongst us. But I didnt feel anything odd, since my instinct told me that I will be OK. I was only thankful that I met a person like that - brimming with hope of the future, with a insurmountable can-do attitude. That was all that was needed to witness, especially when I was in doubt of my future.

"I'm finished", these words stung when the full meaning of the words hit me. This was an answer that I elicited from a lady of the neighboring house who is suffering from cancer. I didn't realize that she was that sick and asked a question as to whether she is still undergoing treatments. There was neither hesitation in her voice nor was any self-pity or gestures that would evoke poignant feeling for her, just unmistakable reality - the reality that seems to elude me. I know that death is as natural as birth, but coming to face to face with it is still hard and especially when you run into something like this unexpectedly. I am sure, she would not have been bothered as much as I am, after the conversation. She wanted to know if she could knock at my door any time and have some conversations since she feels lonely at times. She asked me if I could teach her to pencil-sketch. She clearly moved on to more pressing day-to-day issues faster than I could. Though I was feeling awkward the whole day, she is clearly more stronger than any person I have run into at that age. I wish and pray that I could be half as strong as she is.

I have narrated only the good side of people I found fascinating and still not done with my narration yet, but as we all know, there are many facets of all kinds to make the world and that is why, it is still interesting to meet new people.