Session 9 Debrief: Offroading and Time Off

I met a girl at the training ground, waiting for her dad. Started a conversation and gave her some tips on riding a scooter. She was sweet and wholesome. This made my day to be honest. You don’t meet people like that often.

The driving lesson was good. The first ride was amazing. We went offroading and I pretty much held my own. After that, I had to wait for two other kids and ran the car in an ‘S’ shape which led to plenty of mistakes.

I reached back home at about 10:30 am, three hours after I left. I may have had a total run time of 25 minutes, and that’s being generous.

Let’s talk about the training session, that ate up three goddamn hours of my much-awaited Sunday.

Session 9 Recap

After waiting a while on the training ground, I called my instructor. He was running late. I stood there for a few minutes and a girl pulled up on a scooter. I struck up a conversation and gave her some quick tips.

She had a small frame, which was likely the reason behind her nervousness while learning how to drive vehicles, both two and four-wheelers.

Her dad and their driver pulled up later. I chatted with them for a while. Rich and established folks for sure. Quite well-spoken. Very wholesome family moment. The father and daughter were both taking driving lessons together.

Anyway, my instructor pulled up alone. There weren’t any other students but one. I thought there would be more time behind the wheels. Well, in a way, I was right, but also wrong.

The ride was new and interesting. Instead of our usual route, we went through a road not taken and full of bumps. The uneven driver was great because it gave me a better feel of clutch and throttle pairing.

I guess I was speeding up slightly here and there and my steering placement could have been a bit finer.

Overall, it was great. I both up and downshifted flawlessly. The stick got stuck at one point but all good because the road was clear and I was calm. I slowly unstuck the stick to go to the necessary gear and resumed driving.

When we returned to the field, the girl was just leaving. I was focused on the task at hand so I didn’t wave her goodbye. Maybe I will run into her again.

Then, two other students did some maneuverability training. Each of them screwed up to certain degrees. I attempted the ‘S’ after waiting for 30 minutes and messed it up greatly as well. The streak of scrappy drive continued when I just moved the car back and forth on the road.

Training is Basically Over

Whatever I could’ve learned from the driving lessons, I did. Now, it’s about practicing the controls myself and finessing car control over time. 

The maneuverability run training was hit or miss because of that. Those finer controls can only happen well when I am doing those moves as part of broader driving maneuvers. 

For instance, if I want to reverse the car well. I need to drive it straight for a while and hook a sharp turn, similar to how I learned the forward motion. In the process, I must ignore the stalls and delineations.

However, when other students and my instructor are watching, there is this unnecessary pressure of not making mistakes, which is truly absurd. As a beginner, I must give myself room to make these mistakes to learn the limits of car controls.

Formula 1 drivers constantly go off track and even crash while getting to grips with the car. Even experienced drivers sometimes make unforced errors that can be deemed silly. These errors mean nothing and aren’t representative of the drivers’ skill set whatsoever.

The same goes for my and other kids’ mistakes while practicing turns. These guys have driven the car through tough traffic moments and have executed difficult maneuvers on Indian roads.

Despite all those hours under the belt, they mess up. And once the mess up begins, it continues. The more experienced kid who could do it all started messing things up at an exponential capacity after the first mistake. The first few runs were dope though.

It also tells a bit about the endurance of the human mind while conducting difficult maneuvers during driving, especially when the cost of a mistake is high, which, in this case, is getting yelled at needlessly for something banal.

The worst part is that it tanks my confidence and costs enthalpy. 

I can undo that damage through these debriefs but for the time being it sucks donkey balls. Me messing up the reverse ‘S’ turn in high-stakes conditions after spending three hours driving 30 minutes is not a true representation of my driving skills.

The Shifting Timeline of Getting a Car

The boys are busy this weekend, so I can only go to the car market the following weekend. This translates to a minimum of three weekends’ delay until the purchase of the car. My frustration with the current driving classes and this delay isn’t good for my mental health.

At the same time, I don’t have any other option but wait. To make matters simpler, I will take a break from tomorrow or the day after. These lame driving lessons need to take the back seat at the moment.

The focus should be on mastering the gross motor movements in the car, not on the finer tweaks while reversing the car in a particular fashion. As I’ve been mentioning in the past few debriefs, it is a recurring problem with these kinds of curricula.

It very well could be mid-February before I get my car. The first priority is to get whatever good deal the auction strategy shows. I don’t mind if it’s a Nexon if I am being honest. That car will suit me and my mentality will help me master it with the same level of efficacy.

Otherwise, I will try to go for any used hatchback from Suzuki as long as it has a BSVI engine. The issue is, these things are priced at such a point, that buying a damn new car is a better option.

If it comes to purchasing a new car, I will compare the pricing and make the right decision. The Suzuki ones aren’t particularly lucrative considering their commonality, lack of safety, and absence of ergonomics.

I am a bit against buying a used machine and forking over a couple of lacs, only to resent it down the line. The new car will take time to get used to anyway.

Looking Forward: Easy Days

Tomorrow, I will pull up to the training ground to move the car back and forth, maybe a bit of turning here and there. The main goal is to keep my confidence level high and finish the remaining training by myself.

The offroading helped and it is something that I can do it by myself too, although there will be certain difficult moments.

I will deny the offer to join the ride and will suggest if I can do the same at night, late evening, or something. That will be something new and I will get used to the headlamps burning my retinas, which is an essential part of driving in India at night.

If I meet the girl, it will be just sweet. I may wait a bit longer by having a cup of tea, but probably won’t hang around hoping for her to turn up. Monday is already breathing down my neck, and I better get strapped up for that.

Until next time,

Tara

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Next Chapter: Session 10 Debrief: Back to Square One

Previous Chapter: Session 8 Debrief: Clear Track, Clean Drive

Index (with Prologue): The Path to Driving License