We all know the democracy that is coined by Lincoln. That is an ideal state of democracy. There are so many democracies in the world. How many of them are truly run for the people? Most of the countries running democratic governments have progressed not because of the governments governing extraordinarily well. But because the people strive to improve their lifestyles. Of course, I do not mean to claim that governments have not done anything at all. The acts, the policies etc etc that have helped the common man, have not been drawn totally with common man in mind. Thus one cannot attribute entirely to the effort of the common man altogether.

I think in these countries including my own, people have given up their hopes on the government and progress of their life styles happen faster because the era of globalization and privatization economies, more than the local government. This is probably the best thing to happen for the common main in developing countries for the progress happens despite tthe government.

Yes, this is about my driving once again.

I must say I have a really bad habit. I just cant stay in one place doing nothing. It is nearly impossible for me to do. If I am at it, it means that there is something terribly wrong. The place of my work is about 2 miles from where I live and though there is a public transport connectivity, it is not as frequent as I would like and if I happen to miss one bus or rail, I must wait more than 15 minutes. That is like a punishment to me for missing the one I intend to catch. It just gets me nuts and it is not a very good way to start my day at work. If you are anyone like me, you would definitely understand what I truly mean. That is why I never take the risk of using the public transport. I walk the 2 miles up and down when my hubby is not around to drop me. It takes about 10 minutes longer than commuting by rail, but hey, i am not idle which is immensely pleasing. Plus, it is a very brisk way to start your day.

Here comes the winter and my first winter abroad and I dont like it a bit. It gets too dark too soon and it is really cold. Walking with all that heavy winter attires is not all that fun either. It crippled me down here since I am left with only one option - to take the public transport. Yes, i didnt know to drive. Like how necessity is a mother is all invention, desperation seems to the catalyst in over coming all hurdles. Desperate not to let the unkind winter unleash its air of frustration on me, once again, I get my husband hire another driving instructor. This time not just to have the state id but to do some real driving. Some how, after a lot of pit falls, I seem to have come to terms with riding a car.

After a week of commuting to and from office, I feel happy that I don't have to stand idle or shoot through the dark evenings to reach home. Though anyone a mile away can tell, there is a amateur driver out there in a car, I must say I am glad to be partly liberated. Partly because, there is miles to miles to go before I can say I can manage anywhere..

As a kid and even now, whenever I set out on a journey some where, I start counting down the number of hours (sometimes even minutes). Whenever a distinct milestone is reached, I say to myself, 'Hey you have already reached here, just a few more hours to go..'. On the 59th minute of every hour, I have this self- conversation. Sounds really quirky but journey could be sometime really tiring and I need to keep saying something encouraging to myself. Instead of looking at these long journeys as a repulsive affairs, may be I should start enjoying the journeys occupying myself with things that I really like. There is always another chance for a trip...

Thinking about it, Life is like this to me as well. When I was in kindergarten, I look up to those in the primary school and I was yearning when I would be grown up like them and when I was really there, it was the secondary and senior secondary. When I was actually in my 12th grade, I was dying to join a college. While I college, I was frantically looking out for financial independence in the form of a job or at least get my education a further push in the form of Masters. After I got a job and have a career path, and seemed lost as to what I want next in life, my mother suggested that I marry and after a lot of push, that happened as well. I think there is always something to do until we retire. And I am wondering if I can claim I thoroughly enjoyed what I was doing each step of life or whether I would be saying i missed the fun waiting to get onto the next step. Unlike an airplane travel, life does not present us with a second chance. Life is indeed a journey of no return. How many of us can truly claim they enjoyed it thoroughly?