Blog post has become one of the key aspects of my Bombay visit. Generally, I get to spend an hour at the Chennai airport after the security clearance and before the boarding the plane. Earlier I used to read books to kill time and I still do, but now I spend an equal amount of time blogging too. So what is this post about? Since past 2-3 months, I have been thinking about writing on this topic. Basically, it is just a short summary and/or story associated with the cars that I have driven so far. Before we start - All these cars are owned by my friend and none by me yet!
Let's start with the car on which I started learning to drive. I was part of BAJA (Off-roading vehicle competition) in my engineering college. Back then we used to design an off-roading car to compete in a nationwide competition. The entire team including the driver were pursuing their degree while working on the project. So yeah, I felt that I too could have been one of the drivers, just a small faint desire. Already there were established drivers in our team who did good justice but it is here that my desire to get a driving license reached a pinnacle and I enrolled in a driving school.
The driving school was in my locality in Mumbai and I was trained on Swift. Frankly, I don't recall if it was diesel or petrol but I do remember that it was blue in colour and a hatchback. Each session consisted of 20 mins and I drove it for 22 days. You can understand the level of skill I would have developed in such a less drive time. Anyway, this was sufficient to clear a very basic driving test and get me a license. One big myth was broken. I used to feel that one needs to accelerate and de-clutch at the same time to make the car move. Fact is, the technology advanced so much that I could launch a car from a stop without the use of accelerator pedal. I had to make sure that I left the clutch gently and the car would roll without stalling. So yeah - Sandy on Road ---
Getz in Somaiya - Akshat. My friend in college and BAJA teammate had a Getz and City too. He was a pretty decent and a very safe driver. I made many college trips in his car and at times I drove his car for 500 mtrs to 1 km near the college. The fun part is, I used to drive slower than the pedestrians walking by. That was like one real-world car experience where complete control of the car was with me, unlike learning vehicle which had two sets of control. Then few years went by and I almost forgot how it felt to drive a car and what was it like to hold the clutch at bitting point. Then came IIT, one of my professors had Tata Nano and Maruti 800. My professor didn't know the level of my driving skills and he was a good chap to hand me the keys to his Nano. Here I learned that how difficult it can be to launch a fully loaded less powerful vehicle. These were very short stints and mention here just for the sake of the record.
Then came a big turning point in my life. I moved to Chennai for my first job and also my first outside Mumbai posing. I met really cool friends here and I still keep meeting them. I can go to a complete book about the adventures with my friends here. Let me get to the point I mean the car. Mainly there were two main cars to talk about which I drove in the same era. Both were by flatmates.
Swift Petrol of Rohith and Grand i10 Sportz Petrol of Kartik. With the swift initially, I had some emotionally bounding and let me tell my bound just got stronger after the ride. Both, Kartik and Rohith are auto enthusiast and I learned a lot from them. Initially, it was the Swift that I drove the most. It was quick but at the same time wider. Rohith stressed the importance of driving slowly at around 30 kmph and learn to control the car. Back then there were no speed breakers in our society, Aqualily so I could drive at a constant speed and in a single gear. Main challenge there was the maneuvering. The lanes were just wide enough for one car and the majority of the turn were blind ones. It was with these driving that I got the confidence of driving on street roads. The second major thing that I learned on the road was launching a car on the slope using the handbrake. Earlier I used footbrake only. Now, there can be a lengthy debate about whether to use handbrake or not. My point is that one should know both the methods and I personally found the handbrake method easy and relaxed. Later on, I came to know that Kartik too used the same technique and I blindly started following the same.
Taking the Swift on road - Disasters at few initial outings. Now, Mahindra World City, where I stay is famous for notorious speed bumps. I used to go too fast over them which caused discomfort to the passengers and also damaged the underbody of the car. Then I learned to go slow and with that, I started to stall. I went through the worst nightmare - Stalling on a speedbump which was on a slope and there was a bus just behind me honking continuously. Now, if I stall once then I am sure to stall 4-5 times more in next one minute. I was literally in a panic mode and then Rohith is like - Relax and after a deep breath I was able to get out of the situation. Now, I don't panic anymore, no matter what the situation is. Earlier I was all attentive and in a very rigid posture. Now I am more relaxed and movements and gear changes are smooth. At the same time, I started driving i10 too. Next couple of months it was a good driving lesson for me with Rohith and Kartik.
Grand i10 - Kartik - As on date he must be having more than 10 years of driving experience and God knows how many cars. I tried to copy him and tried to be as fluid as he was. Soon I realized that it was not an easy task. He made driving look very easy but at my skill level, it was not that easy and smooth. Anyway, I tried my best to improve and I am sure I did. At times I used to take the car out for a ride at night, connect the phone to the speakers and enjoy a long chat my near and dear friends and long drive. Now I had started to realize the difference between brakes and acceleration capability of different vehicles. I could sense the difference in easiness of gear shifting across the different vehicle. Of course by no means, I am anywhere near to the expert level, but I am better than what I was when I came to Chennai. I have spent a great deal of my time in both the cars - both on the driver and non-driver side. Frankly speaking - this post isn't enough to write a complete story about both the cars. Some of the trips that I would like to mention is - Trips for dinner in our locality, then trips to Phoenix mall for movies, and one and the only long trip that I had was to Rameshwaram. At that stage, I was not yet ready for GST, ie highway driving. It was all local within 5 kms of my society.
Then there are other cars that I drove too. Polo - Jeeva, my colleague. My teammate owns a polo and I drove it at times when we used to go for team lunch. That car is really sporty, fast and worth the money. Swift - Kamal, one of other teammate. His Swift was a diesel variant and I liked driving it. Mostly it was from office to home and back. I also drove it once to my friends home who stayed 40 kms away. There was no highway driving but the distance was long. The longest I ever drove. Kartik once showed me the real power of diesel engines and from that day onwards I fell in love with diesel power. Anyway, my first choice will always be petrol for no apparent reason. Time to board the flight. Will resume once I am inside. This was also the first car that I smashed it into another car at a very slow speed. Only few scratches were observed and nothing critical.
Then the famous WagonR - Abhijay. Abhijay was my batchmate in IIT Bombay and in Mahindra too. We both had a good 6 years of togetherness. Driving Wagon R was a completely different experience. Especially when taking it over a bump. I had to take care that it didn't touch at the bottom and secondly I had to accelerate it enough so that it didn't stall. I admit it, I don't rev-up the engine as much as required while launching it from start out on a slope. With this was the first car that I took it for a proper highway ride. Initially, it was short 30 kms ride in total on the weekend afternoon. Thanks to Abhijay for showing enough confidence that he gave me the keys to drive it from Phoenix market city to our residence. It is a good 35-40 kms stretch with few speed sections and few narrow ones. The highlight of the trip was that I didn't stall even once. That was the last major ride that I had.
I am really thankful to my friends who showed enough confidence in me and more importantly my driving skills. Kindly forgive me if I missed any major and/or minor Car rides. Kindly drop in your comments and your first car drive experience. Thank You !!!
Happy Driving Friends !!!
Let's start with the car on which I started learning to drive. I was part of BAJA (Off-roading vehicle competition) in my engineering college. Back then we used to design an off-roading car to compete in a nationwide competition. The entire team including the driver were pursuing their degree while working on the project. So yeah, I felt that I too could have been one of the drivers, just a small faint desire. Already there were established drivers in our team who did good justice but it is here that my desire to get a driving license reached a pinnacle and I enrolled in a driving school.
The driving school was in my locality in Mumbai and I was trained on Swift. Frankly, I don't recall if it was diesel or petrol but I do remember that it was blue in colour and a hatchback. Each session consisted of 20 mins and I drove it for 22 days. You can understand the level of skill I would have developed in such a less drive time. Anyway, this was sufficient to clear a very basic driving test and get me a license. One big myth was broken. I used to feel that one needs to accelerate and de-clutch at the same time to make the car move. Fact is, the technology advanced so much that I could launch a car from a stop without the use of accelerator pedal. I had to make sure that I left the clutch gently and the car would roll without stalling. So yeah - Sandy on Road ---
Getz in Somaiya - Akshat. My friend in college and BAJA teammate had a Getz and City too. He was a pretty decent and a very safe driver. I made many college trips in his car and at times I drove his car for 500 mtrs to 1 km near the college. The fun part is, I used to drive slower than the pedestrians walking by. That was like one real-world car experience where complete control of the car was with me, unlike learning vehicle which had two sets of control. Then few years went by and I almost forgot how it felt to drive a car and what was it like to hold the clutch at bitting point. Then came IIT, one of my professors had Tata Nano and Maruti 800. My professor didn't know the level of my driving skills and he was a good chap to hand me the keys to his Nano. Here I learned that how difficult it can be to launch a fully loaded less powerful vehicle. These were very short stints and mention here just for the sake of the record.
Then came a big turning point in my life. I moved to Chennai for my first job and also my first outside Mumbai posing. I met really cool friends here and I still keep meeting them. I can go to a complete book about the adventures with my friends here. Let me get to the point I mean the car. Mainly there were two main cars to talk about which I drove in the same era. Both were by flatmates.
Swift Petrol of Rohith and Grand i10 Sportz Petrol of Kartik. With the swift initially, I had some emotionally bounding and let me tell my bound just got stronger after the ride. Both, Kartik and Rohith are auto enthusiast and I learned a lot from them. Initially, it was the Swift that I drove the most. It was quick but at the same time wider. Rohith stressed the importance of driving slowly at around 30 kmph and learn to control the car. Back then there were no speed breakers in our society, Aqualily so I could drive at a constant speed and in a single gear. Main challenge there was the maneuvering. The lanes were just wide enough for one car and the majority of the turn were blind ones. It was with these driving that I got the confidence of driving on street roads. The second major thing that I learned on the road was launching a car on the slope using the handbrake. Earlier I used footbrake only. Now, there can be a lengthy debate about whether to use handbrake or not. My point is that one should know both the methods and I personally found the handbrake method easy and relaxed. Later on, I came to know that Kartik too used the same technique and I blindly started following the same.
Taking the Swift on road - Disasters at few initial outings. Now, Mahindra World City, where I stay is famous for notorious speed bumps. I used to go too fast over them which caused discomfort to the passengers and also damaged the underbody of the car. Then I learned to go slow and with that, I started to stall. I went through the worst nightmare - Stalling on a speedbump which was on a slope and there was a bus just behind me honking continuously. Now, if I stall once then I am sure to stall 4-5 times more in next one minute. I was literally in a panic mode and then Rohith is like - Relax and after a deep breath I was able to get out of the situation. Now, I don't panic anymore, no matter what the situation is. Earlier I was all attentive and in a very rigid posture. Now I am more relaxed and movements and gear changes are smooth. At the same time, I started driving i10 too. Next couple of months it was a good driving lesson for me with Rohith and Kartik.
Grand i10 - Kartik - As on date he must be having more than 10 years of driving experience and God knows how many cars. I tried to copy him and tried to be as fluid as he was. Soon I realized that it was not an easy task. He made driving look very easy but at my skill level, it was not that easy and smooth. Anyway, I tried my best to improve and I am sure I did. At times I used to take the car out for a ride at night, connect the phone to the speakers and enjoy a long chat my near and dear friends and long drive. Now I had started to realize the difference between brakes and acceleration capability of different vehicles. I could sense the difference in easiness of gear shifting across the different vehicle. Of course by no means, I am anywhere near to the expert level, but I am better than what I was when I came to Chennai. I have spent a great deal of my time in both the cars - both on the driver and non-driver side. Frankly speaking - this post isn't enough to write a complete story about both the cars. Some of the trips that I would like to mention is - Trips for dinner in our locality, then trips to Phoenix mall for movies, and one and the only long trip that I had was to Rameshwaram. At that stage, I was not yet ready for GST, ie highway driving. It was all local within 5 kms of my society.
Then there are other cars that I drove too. Polo - Jeeva, my colleague. My teammate owns a polo and I drove it at times when we used to go for team lunch. That car is really sporty, fast and worth the money. Swift - Kamal, one of other teammate. His Swift was a diesel variant and I liked driving it. Mostly it was from office to home and back. I also drove it once to my friends home who stayed 40 kms away. There was no highway driving but the distance was long. The longest I ever drove. Kartik once showed me the real power of diesel engines and from that day onwards I fell in love with diesel power. Anyway, my first choice will always be petrol for no apparent reason. Time to board the flight. Will resume once I am inside. This was also the first car that I smashed it into another car at a very slow speed. Only few scratches were observed and nothing critical.
Then the famous WagonR - Abhijay. Abhijay was my batchmate in IIT Bombay and in Mahindra too. We both had a good 6 years of togetherness. Driving Wagon R was a completely different experience. Especially when taking it over a bump. I had to take care that it didn't touch at the bottom and secondly I had to accelerate it enough so that it didn't stall. I admit it, I don't rev-up the engine as much as required while launching it from start out on a slope. With this was the first car that I took it for a proper highway ride. Initially, it was short 30 kms ride in total on the weekend afternoon. Thanks to Abhijay for showing enough confidence that he gave me the keys to drive it from Phoenix market city to our residence. It is a good 35-40 kms stretch with few speed sections and few narrow ones. The highlight of the trip was that I didn't stall even once. That was the last major ride that I had.
I am really thankful to my friends who showed enough confidence in me and more importantly my driving skills. Kindly forgive me if I missed any major and/or minor Car rides. Kindly drop in your comments and your first car drive experience. Thank You !!!
Happy Driving Friends !!!
