I got my American Driving License!!!

Yesssssssssss, I got my American driving license. Yes, I got it. Someone told me that you need two basic things to survive in US, one is a credit card & other is a driving license. Not sure how true it is, because I survived without both for a long time. But you should have money in some form & cards are always preferred in US of course (try surviving without money anywhere in the world and that’s going to be tough for sure; unless you are rich because then you have to have money... lol). And of course it’s not easy living without a car or at least capability to drive. The places are so far in a place like Kansas & there is no public transport.

About ‘capability to drive’, in US having a license does means you are capable to drive. Not just lawfully but technically as well, because you do need to know how to drive okay if you have to get a license. Unlike in India where many of us didn’t even go to the licensing office to get a license. Yes, it did use to happen long time back, now you do have to go but the only reason is that they take a picture on the spot for your license. But I think there might be a way out of that as well, after all it’s our India (No offense, because I love my India very much. However there are few things where we say,'It happens only in INDIA').

So even if you have a license in India, you may not even know how to move a vehicle (unless you are thinking of just pushing/pulling it, maybe). I was one of those guys too, but I did get my license legally by giving the written exam & everything, just as they never asked me to actually drive a car. Actually I didn’t even have a car; I went on a bike only which they didn’t ask me to drive either. I learned driving a car after getting my license and even the learning didn’t help much, those guys just strip you off 1000 bucks or more for no reason. All you need is some real practice on your vehicle & that’s all you need to learn driving. Not a person sitting besides you with controls under his legs & you just feel as if you are driving, uhh!!

Anyways, getting a license in US is quite a process. For beginners it may feel like getting a green card or citizenship itself. Actually getting a license for the 1st time gives you almost as much pleasure I think, it feels great. It really does, it works as an ID proof (no need to carry your passport all the time), age proof, residence proof and whatever else it may works for. But anyways, let’s get to the story of me getting my license… It starts from the first time I went to DMV in Herndon, Virginia but I’ll share it in another blog. This time let’s get to my success story in Kansas (and that does not mean that Herndon story is a failure story… it just might be one!!!)

So, I tried to read the DMV rule book for Kansas first. Every state has there own huge rule book which you have to study and pass the written exam to get a license. I tried my best to read half of the book and remaining half I read when I was standing in the line, Reading is no fun, not unless I am reading my own blogs (which are not many ofcourse) or the comments by you guys (which you hardly ever do). Anyways, they verified all my documents first; you need to have 2 valid ID proofs, one current residence proof and whatever else they might ask for. My documents were fine, and the vision test was good too so I was forwarded for written test. It’s not really tough but may seem stupid sometimes with the kind of questions they ask. You have to score 80% to pass, so it means you have to get 20 rights out of 25. I attempted 21 questions and got them all correct, yeah!!! The examiner told me that ‘you could have left one more’, lol. So, I was moved for the real tough part, the DRIVING TEST…

The guy who took the test looked like Indian, but he was not… may be a Mexican or someone. He looked very serious like our big uncles, so I was kind of concerned but there was no way out. Her checked my car for the signal lights, horn & stuff to make sure its okay (like I was going to go with a broken car and it would make thing easy for me, huh). I had a rented Chevrolet Cobalt, I got a small 2-door car so I can get license easily. He took me on the drive then, or we should say for the driving test (because first one seems like a date, which would & could never happen… I won’t ever do that for a license). I was totally cautious & alert, driving as smartly as possible. I was chanting in my mind… stop at all STOP signs (I try to do it all the time actually, sometimes just too much that it annoys people with me or at back of my car); always remember ‘right of way’ and yield when required (I know it sounds funny, because in India ‘right of way’ is who ever manages to go first without hitting. If you hit then of course you stop to hit the person. And ‘yield’ is only done by idiots who don’t know how to drive ); be under the speed limit (which I can hardly do in actual scenarios); follow the traffic signals strictly (not mandatory in India mostly so I am not sure how good I am it, and breaking signals is fun sometimes anyways); stop at all the school signs (yeah guys, its mandatory even if its evening/night or holidays/vacations as well… you know kids are stupid as I said last time, so of course they can show up anytime) and wherever you see people/pedestrians ‘STOP’ and make sure they are safe (yeah.. its not India, that if you are walking on road its your fault & be ready to hit anytime by any vehicle owner… huh!!!). Hmmmmm, I followed all these rules. Just as I said, I was just bit too careful on a stop sign almost yielding way even when there was no one to yield to. The guy told me that he could fail me for that as I was being over-cautious which is not good. But he didn’t because I did a good job of driving overall. Thank You John (or whatever your name was). Yessssssssss…. I did a good job of driving overall and I got my American Driving License!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow!!! This was quite a huge blog. I should stop now, I should. My friends are telling me that I am really good at writing these blogs. They are… my manager Ganesh (I know that it may not be the best thing your manager reading your blogs, but if it’s someone as cool as him its fine. And I am not saying this just because he may be reading it right now, lol); my friend Rama & his wife (he told me they both like it and I trust him… as he’s praising me); my friend Sonika (she really praised me very well, I guess girls have that art of praising or lying maybe. But i know she's speaking truth) and few others too (I really don't have any of those few others yet, but doesn’t harms in writing so...). Thanks dear friends, but please put some nice comments as well... all the time on all the blogs (yeah, I know I can never get enough!!!)…

Anyways, I would close for now. Just one big news, which has been pending though. I returned my $200 glasses back and got my money back as well, would tell more next time. I would also try to be more regular by writing more, I’ll try. Until then keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (& COMMENTING as well please). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!