My life partner always thinks that the toughest challenge i had to face after marriage was to teach her how to drive a four wheeler than to get the chemistry between both of us fixed.
It is always easy to speak about woman empowerment but to make her empowered there should always be a man behind and she was empowered enough by her father. I wanted to further empower my life partner by teaching her how to drive a four wheeler, 'an empowered driver.'
But I had a preconceived notion, which I learnt in my undergraduate level that people who are academically sharp wouldn't be so good at motor skills. My life partner being academically so sharp; having 1st rank for KTET, clearing JRF, perusing PhD in English Literature, securing top rank in PSC Collegiate exam, i had a doubt whether she would be good at motor skills.
However, she had a desire in her, though not so deep, to drive a four wheeler one day. Therefore, I got her enrolled for four wheeler driving classes in Anu Driving School at Vazhithala. After the first day of learning, she was found like any other driving novice and I also asked her driving master on her chances on picking up driving skills. I had full confidence in her that she would pick it up.
The merit of learning how to drive and the difference it can make is understood when there is any casualty at home and there is a car parked in the porch but unfortunately not knowing how to drive it to rush the person for timely hospitalization.
Though she took a quite a good number of driving classes she completed her initial learning and got her learner's license. Now it was my challenge to hone her driving skills being seated next to her in the car. Generally when a person who knows how to drive is seated next to a newly learnt driver, the experienced person will have all kinds of worries on what the newbie is going to do in terms of driving, especially when a speedy vehicle comes against them, having no parallel control system like in the driving school vehicle if anything goes wrong. Needless to say this worry was responsible for peppering my head with a significant number of grey hairs.
While theatrically teaching her what a half-clutch technique is and how to apply the same once to drive ahead when the car is stopped on an ascending slope, i practically learnt how to use it only after teaching her, until then I was managing with hand-break. Eventually she became so perfect in applying half-clutch technique and would drive ahead stopping the car at any inclination.
She has been too lazy to further hone her driving skills after managing to get her driving license, but somehow got it fixed by taking her to a number of road tests pasting big red L letters on the front and back glasses of the car. After becoming an experienced driver she continues to be lazy to drive like her father who holds a valid licence but never drives. But unlike some male chauvinists, i don't want to be in the driving seat thinking only the man should drive when his life partner is in the car.
At the end of the day, she taught me one can be good at both academics as well as motor skills equally.
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😊👍
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