The achievement

So, I don't even need to say it, because it was all over Facebook. Actually wait.. yes I do. I FUCKING DID IT. I PASSED MY DRIVING TEST. IN ONE ATTEMPT. AND NOT ONLY PASSED IT. I GOT A 94/100! I am SO fucking proud of myself. Okay, brag-a-ton- is over! =D
Don't even pretend that you guys didn't see this coming. You KNEW I would write a GRAND BLOG about this! =)

No, but seriously.. you have no idea how much nerve this took. I HAVE to document my journey (as always) to make this accomplishment for worthwhile. Okay, bitter losers who think it's no big deal, calm your hormones because it was a HUGE deal for me. Previously written in my blog, I was a phobic since I was 13. Let's mention that I got my G1 when I was 19, as opposed to 16 because I didn't wanna do anything associated with driving. Then, in August 2011 I started taking lessons. The first day, I drove on 10-15 and then went on to 90 in a 50 speed limit. Also to mention, I drove onto the curb like 6 times in the first three days. LOL. It's funny now that I think back to all that..

I stopped taking lessons in September when I went to school. But I started driving with mom in October. Short distances - such as Humber College or driving till mom's workplace etc. I pushed my driving test three times (THREE times) with the fear that I won't pass. The original date was in January. Then, February and finally 19th March proved to be THE DAY. I didn't write about it on my blog because I was a bit superstitious this time and didn't wanna jinx myself. Crazy right? Whatever.

So, I started back on the lessons just LAST week. I took THREE lessons to show off whatever I learned by driving in all these months. The only thing I needed to work on was parking, which I stress that I did NOT know. Essentially, I practiced parking in all three lessons I took. He said I drove fine, the parking was the issue a little bit. And then, by the last lesson he said, "Aditi, don't worry, you're gonna pass!" My brother was so skeptical and so was my dad! My mom KINDA had faith in me. And Nish kept on saying, you are NOT gonna fail. Let's not even go there. I gotta give huuuuuuuge credit to Nish and my mother for being constantly up my ass about driving. I drove Nish's car 4-5 times in the last month or so to show him that I could drive. We went to see Arshia the other day at Sheridan, and I drove back in the rush hour. He said he felt safe with me and I did great. I was nervous until the VERY last minute. So, here's what happened in the day..

I got barely 4.5 hours of sleep  because I couldn't sleep in nervousness the night before. I went to sleep reading the Hanuman Chalisa and chanting all the bhajans my grandmother ever taught me since childhood! Trust me - there is no exaggeration here. If I pull out my iPhone and open up the Safari history, you would see a list of bhajans and things that I read before I went to sleep. I woke up at 7:30 am and I was gonna get picked up at 8:30 am. There was one more lady going with us, but I didn't know her until I met her that morning. My instructor picked me up and then we went to pick up the lady. SHE WAS MORE NERVOUS THAN I WAS! She was a typical Punjabi lady, with very little knowledge of the English language and spoke in really typical Punjabi, which was hard for me to understand being a Punjabi myself!

I kinda felt better seeing her nervous though. LOL. It's human nature. You bring yourself up by thinking there is someone worse than me right now. We both were gonna get a lesson when we reached Guelph. My test was at 12:05 pm and her's was right after me at 12:25 pm, with the same examiner. She was a nice lady and I did not wanna see her fail. It was her 4th attempt by the way! So, we both got our lessons when we reached Guelph. My lesson went fine. My parking was absolutely perfect; he said I needed to ease up and not look like I am gonna kill the examiner. My face was scary. Like, SCARY.

When the lady was driving, she made some pretty major mistakes because she was more nervous than me. I felt bad and I wanted her to do well. And the instructor was so ignorant, he was on the phone more than half the time and expected us to adhere to his hand signals. At least give proper directions, right before the test, you idiot :S
So, I spoke up and helped her as much as I could. Right before my test, I went to the washroom and looked at myself. I even clicked a picture, LOL. I came back out and hugged her and wished her good luck. She was still quite nervous. As I waited for my examiner to find my car, I just chanted "Jai Shri Ram" over a hundred times. Can you guys tell this was a life/death situation for me? LOL!

After twenty minutes of waiting, I saw a black lady walking up to my car. She looked absolutely strict and I thought she is definitely going to fail me. But I had a little faith in myself, if not too much confidence. And oh, I am an excellent actress in case anyone didn't know. Nish re-assures this fact. And I can fake confidence (h). And I most definitely did. As soon as she sat down, I knew the first impression makes a difference. I greeted her well and we got on to the test.

I cannot begin to tell you HOW friendly this examiner was. We made each other comfortable by conversing with each other as opposed to just sitting there in my nervous-ness and monotonously doing the test. I started off with how HOT it was that day. It was around 21 degrees. And we got on to global warming. Somehow, while driving.. we started talking about Quebec and it's segregation (thank God for those history and political science courses) I shared some valuable information with her regarding that. Then, we got to talking about India because we started with the weather and that is one of the hottest places. She expressed her love for sarees, samose, and Indian jewelry. And I started telling her of places you can get those things. And then, I told her to take a vacation because she traveled 8 countries already. I suggested Goa because of the beauty, the diversity and the amazing beaches as well as the coconut/ palm trees. She looked at me in absolute awe and said, "Girl, how'd you know that I wanna go to GOA?" (She said it in the "nahhh-uhhh girll" accent) I am not being racist, it was funny though, LOL. And she made me parallel park and drive. BUT she did not make me do a three point turn, for two reasons (because I drove so well OR I kept her occupied so she forgot). I'd like to think because I drove so well :)

And before I even knew it, we were taking a right at the intersection closest to the driving license place. Here is how I got my marks deducted. I got 94/100. When I was moving towards the last intersection, the right lane ends and I had to merge in the left. But because I was busy talking, I didn't see it in advance and I wasn't prepared to switch lanes. BUT I was going on about a 50 so it was a smooth transition (at least I thought it would be), but I straddled a little bit. Like okay, I got 2 marks off for straddling for half a second. And then I was supposed to take a right at the intersection. It was a red light and I was waiting for the traffic to go. I had to turn when other vehicles were away. I was already at a safe distance but I saw a Caravan coming, and I stopped to let him go. She took two points off because it was too long a wait, I could've gone first. My last two points were deducted because I forgot to cancel the indicator when I took that last right. So, basically I did amazing on my entire test except I screwed three things all at once at the last intersection. But hey, I am not complaining. Then, we got into the plaza and she told me to reverse park into any spot I like. Usually, if you haven't driven well, they tell you a spot themselves to test your ability to park. But, I chose the spot that I parked in earlier to practice and it was PURRFECCTT, and dead in the centre - and THIS was my major concern. My instructor was standing there watching me in the parking lot, while I parked and he was smiling! As soon as I put the car in parking, and put the handbrake on, she said "Congratulations!" I said, "WHATT? I PASSED?" She said, "You rocked it, girl. Now, go enjoy some of that spicy Indian food." I literally like climbed onto her to hug her =D

And then ran inside to get the licence and paperwork done. When I came out, the lady who was with me had also passed. And my instructor hugged both of us and pointed to me and told the lady, "She is your good luck charm." It's because it was her fourth attempt and she finally did it! That just added to the happiness. Then, we went to Tim Hortons nearby to treat ourselves with calories. And on the way back, I blasted Yaar Anmulle in the instructor's car =D And that's it. Fear defeated. Phobia gone. I could not be happier. Thank you everybody that commented on my blogs and Facebook and said that I could do it. And yes, I am making it to be a BIG DEAL right now (I acknowledge it, and I don't care). Okay, I am done :$

No wait.. and then I came back and met Nish immediately and took him out for a treat - for the first time ever! We went to Rajdhaani to have typical Indian foods - Chaat Paapri, Aloo Tikki, Pav Bhaji with LIMCA lol. And then, Faluda for dessert at the infamous Royal Paan (repping Rexdale) :P and spent the entire evening chilling. It was amazing :) and a great end to the day. NOW, I am done.