t r u t h o u t - We need a BIG change!!
I still remember when I was 18 years and one day old – 20th January 1998. My dad assigned one of his subordinates to help me fetch my Driving license (DL) when he was posted at Hassan (Karnataka)– a Place where ISRO’s satellite tracking centre is located. It was a cake walk for me to get my DL. Fast forward to the present year -2010, I had to surrender the Karnataka license and apply for a Kerala DL due to certain circumstances. This time I chose to do the job without my dad’s help as an ordinary citizen.
I traced out the RTO Trivandrum’s office and ventured into the maze of crowd dizzy dallying on that 4000sq ft office. Somehow worked my way out, got the necessary forms and details and appeared for the Learner’s license. The ever unhelpful lady at the enquiry counter messed me up and
I ended up waiting at the wrong queue. Luckily humanity still existed and a lady and some young guys corrected my mistake and made me go to another queue. The time was 12.30pm; there were 20+ applicants in front of me. “Tough luck Arun!” I said to myself. As the clock struck 1.00pm everyone was asked to disperse and come the next day! “Oh ma good lord, I can’t afford to spend my time n energy with my medical condition” – I said to myself. As the corridor emptied, I stood near the door and kept hoping for the junior officer to notice me. And luck favoured, he glanced at me and asked me to come in. On enquiry I told him, I had come for the Learners and unfortunately did not make it in the queue. He stopped to think, glanced at me once again and asked me to give my papers to him and take the test on the computer next to him. I looked at the watch – 1.05pm. I thanked all my stars and God, cleared the test in a few minutes and walked out with a date for the road test – 18th Sep’ ’10. Which meant for more than two months, I’d be a learner’s license holder who knew to drive better than most of the licensed drivers out here!!
A few of my friends told me to approach a driving school who could not only pre-pone the date but also make the test easy. But I had decided to stick by it and do it all by myself. As the D-day approached, I had a gut instinct that considering the medical rest that I am in, I should approach the Driving school and get it done. I googled and found out a driving school. They charged a reasonable INR.1400/- for both 2 n 4 wheeler with the ‘8” and ‘H’ test (A method of testing the balancing skill on two wheeler and judgemental driving skills on four wheeler) practise. I felt the decision I took was right, forget about taking these two test, I had never ever seen such a test or even knew how it is
supposed to be done. I reached driving school the day before my test and to my surprise, I found that two of the forms I needed were missing! The clerks at the RTO office while giving me the Learner’s license told that all I needed to do was to come on the test day with the same forms that I had, regarding eye and medical test, he said it’s not required for private driving license. GOSH! Probably they had misguided me as they noticed I had not applied through any driving schools (you all must be aware of the nexus between the schools and RTO). My belief that Luck was with me got stronger, when I decided to approach a school; else I would have been running pillar to post for days. The school promised to take care of the required documents and I headed to the test field to be made aware of the tests. I took the ‘8’ test for two wheeler on first take and waited for my chance to try the four wheeler.
The instructor was a 40+ year old mallu chap in mundu(Dhoti) . The trainee who was practising kept messing and the instructor kept screaming at him, the more the mistakes the louder and aggressive the screams became. Being a trainer, I noticed that more than lack of knowledge, it was due to the chidings of the instructor that the guy ended up getting nervous and mistakes kept happening. I got into the car with him, and tried my level best to calm him down and guide him. Finally he did complete taking the ‘H’ without the vehicle switching off and any major mistakes. The moment he did that, the instructor got him off the car and asked me to try, I objected telling that I felt the guy should try it once more, so that he will get confident. But the instructor shooed him away, probably he wanted to take the easy way out and claim that the chap has taken the ‘H’ perfectly under training and if he messed up at the test, it wouldn’t be his fault. Anyways I got on, and thankfully, the instructor treated me with more respect and decency. The ‘H’ test was easy for me, I practised it three times and told him I was confident and headed back home for the much needed afternoon siesta.
The D-day came; Indu accompanied me as it was a holiday for her. I was out of place for sure!! I felt like standing in some PSC or Medical/Engineering entrance exam venue. Nervous applicants, frustrated
and adrenaline driven instructors kept practising till the Inspectors arrived. I was the first one to do and clear the two wheeler test. Interestingly when the turn of our driving school came for the four wheeler test, the other applicants from my driving school kept pushing me to be the first one to take the test! “Come on guys!! U all have to do the test if not now, and then in a few minutes once I complete it” Huh! Anyways with the ground test done, Indu and I packed off the Shangumugham beach and had yummy masala dosas and steaming hot coffee at the beach facing Indian Coffee House outlet. We then spent our time by the beachside waiting for the on- road test to begin. Well, as they said well begun is half done, I effortlessly cleared the road test for both 2 and 4 wheelers and got my temporary DL (A receipt, which I could use till I got the original delivered at home).
More than to share my experience taking the DL test I’d like to pin point the standard of teaching at the driving schools. During the learner’s test, when candidates who completed the computer based test come out into the corridor, a swarm of girls and guys swarm the individual asking about the questions asked. Gosh! It felt like our school exam days when we discussed the question paper before heading home. There were others who were busy mugging up the traffic signs and signals from a book a smarty was selling around. I really felt it funny.. I mean last minute mugging is not gonna help! Moreover almost all the traffic signs and signals are logical and common sense based. Hmm.. then I noticed a Driving school instructor trying to peep through the glass door and help his candidate. The funny thing was his frustration when then guy didn’t get his attention or didn’t even realise this guy standing there and showing him ‘Kathakali’ steps. It felt like driving test was some sort of highly competitive exam and people were worried and tensed about their pet daughter or son flunking it. I wonder if there is any incident of a failed candidate committing suicide as seen when 10th standard exam results are announced!!
On the driving test day, I noticed a girl arrive in a Maruti Driving School's car, as they reached the
ground, the instructor hopped off and left it to the candidate to learn by trial and error. He was cool and was seen chatting and cracking jokes, only approaching the girl when she wanted him. This was unlike the other instructors who were spoon feeding the candidates. I could see the difference in confidence level and techniques used by the girl, they were contemporary. I realised that Maruti has given her a solid foundation through theory and stimulator based training and then left her on her own to practise. They encouraged mistakes and errors, thereby learning from it. While other driving schools were creating robots that followed instructions: Steering straight – move- brake – look back- reverse, stop – left etc. to pass the test and get the DL. Little wonder our roads are not safe! They are filled with drivers who are programmed to mechanically drive the vehicles and in any uncomfortable situation they just throw up their arms and Bang!!
I had discussed about the education standard in Kerala colleges in my previous blogs. I wish to update information from my wife – Indu who works for a large IT company where students from the engineering colleges come for industry visit. She was devastated by the latest batch (So does she with every batch) which came, guys and gals who don’t open their mouth, don’t know about latest technology, the saddest part was – when asked about which is the biggest company in the world, few of them said Microsoft! One of them said (hold your breath) – Infosys!!!! Huh... It’s Walmart – the fortune #1 company. But then as I said, who is really bothered about a B.Tech or a MBA degree and making a career out of it. It’s all about finding a guy of the same standard to get married to and settle down in his kitchen. I am really disappointed by this trend of Kerala society’s ‘frog in the well’ attitude. Why waste a B.Tech or Medical seat if you don’t have plans to put your kid’s learning into use? Do u really need a B.Tech or Engineering degree to raise a
kid and run a family? I totally support a career woman taking a break or even quitting the job to raise a family, but then, here we are seeing a fresher getting married away.
Why doesn’t this society think of giving back something to the nation? If not the nation, at least give something back to nature – plant a tree, save ecology!! Huh... Who is bothered? As they say – “Get born, live, die- stay dead”!! I would call such people ‘Parasites’ who thrive on others’ to live and die off without achieving anything and nothing really good to talk past them. Even the cooking gas cylinder that our B.Tech ‘home-maker’ wife uses is subsidised using tax paid by working women.
God save 'God’s own country'!
I traced out the RTO Trivandrum’s office and ventured into the maze of crowd dizzy dallying on that 4000sq ft office. Somehow worked my way out, got the necessary forms and details and appeared for the Learner’s license. The ever unhelpful lady at the enquiry counter messed me up and
I ended up waiting at the wrong queue. Luckily humanity still existed and a lady and some young guys corrected my mistake and made me go to another queue. The time was 12.30pm; there were 20+ applicants in front of me. “Tough luck Arun!” I said to myself. As the clock struck 1.00pm everyone was asked to disperse and come the next day! “Oh ma good lord, I can’t afford to spend my time n energy with my medical condition” – I said to myself. As the corridor emptied, I stood near the door and kept hoping for the junior officer to notice me. And luck favoured, he glanced at me and asked me to come in. On enquiry I told him, I had come for the Learners and unfortunately did not make it in the queue. He stopped to think, glanced at me once again and asked me to give my papers to him and take the test on the computer next to him. I looked at the watch – 1.05pm. I thanked all my stars and God, cleared the test in a few minutes and walked out with a date for the road test – 18th Sep’ ’10. Which meant for more than two months, I’d be a learner’s license holder who knew to drive better than most of the licensed drivers out here!!A few of my friends told me to approach a driving school who could not only pre-pone the date but also make the test easy. But I had decided to stick by it and do it all by myself. As the D-day approached, I had a gut instinct that considering the medical rest that I am in, I should approach the Driving school and get it done. I googled and found out a driving school. They charged a reasonable INR.1400/- for both 2 n 4 wheeler with the ‘8” and ‘H’ test (A method of testing the balancing skill on two wheeler and judgemental driving skills on four wheeler) practise. I felt the decision I took was right, forget about taking these two test, I had never ever seen such a test or even knew how it is
supposed to be done. I reached driving school the day before my test and to my surprise, I found that two of the forms I needed were missing! The clerks at the RTO office while giving me the Learner’s license told that all I needed to do was to come on the test day with the same forms that I had, regarding eye and medical test, he said it’s not required for private driving license. GOSH! Probably they had misguided me as they noticed I had not applied through any driving schools (you all must be aware of the nexus between the schools and RTO). My belief that Luck was with me got stronger, when I decided to approach a school; else I would have been running pillar to post for days. The school promised to take care of the required documents and I headed to the test field to be made aware of the tests. I took the ‘8’ test for two wheeler on first take and waited for my chance to try the four wheeler.The instructor was a 40+ year old mallu chap in mundu(Dhoti) . The trainee who was practising kept messing and the instructor kept screaming at him, the more the mistakes the louder and aggressive the screams became. Being a trainer, I noticed that more than lack of knowledge, it was due to the chidings of the instructor that the guy ended up getting nervous and mistakes kept happening. I got into the car with him, and tried my level best to calm him down and guide him. Finally he did complete taking the ‘H’ without the vehicle switching off and any major mistakes. The moment he did that, the instructor got him off the car and asked me to try, I objected telling that I felt the guy should try it once more, so that he will get confident. But the instructor shooed him away, probably he wanted to take the easy way out and claim that the chap has taken the ‘H’ perfectly under training and if he messed up at the test, it wouldn’t be his fault. Anyways I got on, and thankfully, the instructor treated me with more respect and decency. The ‘H’ test was easy for me, I practised it three times and told him I was confident and headed back home for the much needed afternoon siesta.
The D-day came; Indu accompanied me as it was a holiday for her. I was out of place for sure!! I felt like standing in some PSC or Medical/Engineering entrance exam venue. Nervous applicants, frustrated
and adrenaline driven instructors kept practising till the Inspectors arrived. I was the first one to do and clear the two wheeler test. Interestingly when the turn of our driving school came for the four wheeler test, the other applicants from my driving school kept pushing me to be the first one to take the test! “Come on guys!! U all have to do the test if not now, and then in a few minutes once I complete it” Huh! Anyways with the ground test done, Indu and I packed off the Shangumugham beach and had yummy masala dosas and steaming hot coffee at the beach facing Indian Coffee House outlet. We then spent our time by the beachside waiting for the on- road test to begin. Well, as they said well begun is half done, I effortlessly cleared the road test for both 2 and 4 wheelers and got my temporary DL (A receipt, which I could use till I got the original delivered at home).More than to share my experience taking the DL test I’d like to pin point the standard of teaching at the driving schools. During the learner’s test, when candidates who completed the computer based test come out into the corridor, a swarm of girls and guys swarm the individual asking about the questions asked. Gosh! It felt like our school exam days when we discussed the question paper before heading home. There were others who were busy mugging up the traffic signs and signals from a book a smarty was selling around. I really felt it funny.. I mean last minute mugging is not gonna help! Moreover almost all the traffic signs and signals are logical and common sense based. Hmm.. then I noticed a Driving school instructor trying to peep through the glass door and help his candidate. The funny thing was his frustration when then guy didn’t get his attention or didn’t even realise this guy standing there and showing him ‘Kathakali’ steps. It felt like driving test was some sort of highly competitive exam and people were worried and tensed about their pet daughter or son flunking it. I wonder if there is any incident of a failed candidate committing suicide as seen when 10th standard exam results are announced!!
On the driving test day, I noticed a girl arrive in a Maruti Driving School's car, as they reached the
ground, the instructor hopped off and left it to the candidate to learn by trial and error. He was cool and was seen chatting and cracking jokes, only approaching the girl when she wanted him. This was unlike the other instructors who were spoon feeding the candidates. I could see the difference in confidence level and techniques used by the girl, they were contemporary. I realised that Maruti has given her a solid foundation through theory and stimulator based training and then left her on her own to practise. They encouraged mistakes and errors, thereby learning from it. While other driving schools were creating robots that followed instructions: Steering straight – move- brake – look back- reverse, stop – left etc. to pass the test and get the DL. Little wonder our roads are not safe! They are filled with drivers who are programmed to mechanically drive the vehicles and in any uncomfortable situation they just throw up their arms and Bang!!I had discussed about the education standard in Kerala colleges in my previous blogs. I wish to update information from my wife – Indu who works for a large IT company where students from the engineering colleges come for industry visit. She was devastated by the latest batch (So does she with every batch) which came, guys and gals who don’t open their mouth, don’t know about latest technology, the saddest part was – when asked about which is the biggest company in the world, few of them said Microsoft! One of them said (hold your breath) – Infosys!!!! Huh... It’s Walmart – the fortune #1 company. But then as I said, who is really bothered about a B.Tech or a MBA degree and making a career out of it. It’s all about finding a guy of the same standard to get married to and settle down in his kitchen. I am really disappointed by this trend of Kerala society’s ‘frog in the well’ attitude. Why waste a B.Tech or Medical seat if you don’t have plans to put your kid’s learning into use? Do u really need a B.Tech or Engineering degree to raise a
kid and run a family? I totally support a career woman taking a break or even quitting the job to raise a family, but then, here we are seeing a fresher getting married away.Why doesn’t this society think of giving back something to the nation? If not the nation, at least give something back to nature – plant a tree, save ecology!! Huh... Who is bothered? As they say – “Get born, live, die- stay dead”!! I would call such people ‘Parasites’ who thrive on others’ to live and die off without achieving anything and nothing really good to talk past them. Even the cooking gas cylinder that our B.Tech ‘home-maker’ wife uses is subsidised using tax paid by working women.
God save 'God’s own country'!
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