My journey to bike driving...

The other day when I was travelling through the busy roads in Pune at signal i heard a guy saying his friend " abe woah dekh ladki bike chala rahi hain"......and then till the signal gave hari jhandi they along with few more people around me started staring at me as though I was some kinda ajooba...

Even though we claim ourselves to be in 21st century the mentality is still prevailed in the Indian society. I have always lived life at liberty and freedom. In fact I don`t remember I was being discriminated on the basis of gender (For that I will always be thankful to God to make me lucky by giving such good set of Parents). Driving is one of my passions and I feel relaxed after doing so, let it be bicycle, bike, non- geared bike, car (curious to learn but I know only  4 types).

I remember the tricycle my dad got for me when I was 3 years old (it was actually big for me could not drive properly till I completed 5 years) which gave me the feeling of joy.
Slowly I started taking double seat to my younger sister( who sat with fear as I have made her fall on number of occasion.... ).
 After shifting to Jaipur the pink city I got my first quad cycle( you must be wondering what a quad cycle is it`s coz it was bicycle with support wheels). Atlas company very rough and tough look , blue color . It was my favourite and nothing can beat the happiness I felt when I got that. Everyday I used to ride the Cycle day in and out like a possessed  gal. My friends thought I was crazzy to drive like this but nothing beats the feeling which a bird feels when it is released in open sky...and that's what kept me growing with my cycle. I remember  going to school on that , mom was always worried but dad never stopped me .Sometimes I feel that the urge to be strong  to keep going and to fight in danger zone I have inculcated from dad for which I will always remain Thankful to him.

Shifting to Pune I got my first racer bike Trailblazer .I was adamant on getting one on 15th August (wanted as a remembrance day so that I don't 4gt the day...usually I am bad at Remembering B`days, Anniversaries etc). Ride, Ride and Ride that's what I Used to do. I am actually used to staying  in places with many friends around me, but this was the 1st time I stayed at a place where children were very less in no. so I guess that made me give more time to ride bicycle. It had this gear system which I loved and felt awsome about .

In 10th std when you see ppl around you driving bike and start thinking that even u can I had to wait till I got my learner`s licence . But have tried my hands on friends vehicle thanks to shruti and her sunny we had done lot of crap things together( I wish I could go Back to those days in Boat Club).

12th std, my life was only going in a visious cricle college, practical, classes and house.
monotonous life and the distance was too much so dad decided to give me my first non geared bike Spirit.
I dunno I never liked Scooty and I was a thin lad to go for heavy bikes like Activa , etc...but Spirit caught my eye and that's it I said I want 1. I remember the first goof up I had with spirit.It was funny( Always I end up having some funny moments )a Fellow was coming with several hens tied on his Bajaj Scooter( I dunno I always humm the song hamara bajaj whenever I hear Bajaj).I tried giving him way but due to confusionIi landed up on roads with all hens around me and the feathers all over the place, quite funny(kombadi song would be perfect had it been released that time) but touch wood never met with any accidentSspirit still is in good condition and works fine although we use it very occasionaly.
It introduced me to m/c`s and slowly I came to know about the working mechanism ....
But again the distance really was too much from my place to my engineering college and spirit used to give me Back problem which forced  my Dad to decide on taking one more bike for me( My siblings were unhappy as they always had to use the things after me). I thought maybe Activa, we will buy but he said that he wants me to drive Bike and I was like" Dad look at me I am 48Kgs and the bike is too heavy for me".But he din`t budge and I thought y not  try on bike and that's how I gt my bike which I drive till today.
Let me tell you I was actually not scared to drive but the thought of me falling down and then lifting it up gave me shivers even in my dreams. Plus people staring at me as though a girl should not drive a bike.Still I went ahead learned the bike as I knew car before that it was easy 4 me to get the controls and in matter of 2 hours I learned it the bike gave me thrill, joy, excitement, etc.

And now I drive to greater distances being a defensive driver I enjoy every bit I drive,looking at scenery, people doing daily chores( this was when I used to go for my hockey practice at 5 am), shopping , driving with Friends, mom, sis , bro....I was so engrossed in driving I din`t realise that driving bike has brought me so many changes . It taught me to be strong, confident, ...(I became complete Tomboy)Ttoday also I feel driving bike is far more comfortable than car and whenever I get my chance I sure catch up with Friends, relatives etc on bike.

and never did i came across the feeling that being girl it is different to drive bike.
Its the same process the guy follows to drive bike just that you need to be sure on your driving skills and yes get boost up from family.

The Vivas

VIVA is something as an Engineering student you will hate
 (I am talking about average people like me ).
So far I Remember my friends, colleagues for that matter even professors were so tensed up during this period.Professors were like the most hated people at this point of time, and students would be cursing for not buttering the professors enough to be in there GOOD list.

You would find all students running towards xerox centres and taking out printouts to fill in the files and taking down same set of readings from different batch , making graphs of the readings from different batch , conclusion, etc everything was assembled like a computer and presented in front of professor.It was like house shifting feel with lot of papers getting collected and then I guess they used to sell them .So u can find out the writeups with paan shops, or chaanewala...etc.

Now we had done a sin from past life which we carry forwarded in this life that we got admission in one of the (in people`s eyes) good colleges (just because it was all girls).
And "sone pe suhaga" was that professors were waiting for this D`day so that they can take out there anger, frustration etc due to working (which they would do only during Practicles)  by giving red marks in files, flunking us,making us writeup no. of times, faulting out our semilog graphs etc.

Now the marking goes like if you are in there good girls list u din`t had to study just attend the practical and your viva will be taken care of.
But if you belong to a little lower belt then you have to give viva but are sure to come out with flying colours.
Now the problem comes to us the average people who don't butter the professor saying gud morning , gud afternoon, or complimenting them on their dress even though they might be looking like shakati kapoor, smiling like a fool all the time....for God`s sake who smiles all day??
We were like dirt in there eyes which hurted them and they were eager to throw that dirt ...
The minute our vivas would beI knew that  we had to study the most compared to others because here the External would ask few questions and Internals expected us to know everything including the future updation on that technology.

For e.g." external: ok so can you show me how this graph will tell you the power factor is important?
Me explaining him from the class what ws taught satisfactorily.
(Internal waiting to jump in to take revenge on me for not buttering him)
internal: so now sir would like to know if you can draw circuit diagram to give the power 30 % more"

bang and I am screwed up....

 But somehow after this incident I knew that everything depends on the way we handle it on the D`day...taking tension was never the solution  ...whatever came my way I accepted and moved on....

After that vivas were not a test but creativity Box which was to be opened up and what do u see surprise.......
I have done all sorts of pranks, fun during Practicals...

For e.g during our pre viva`s we had this new joinee with squeaky tone which would irritate you taking our practice viva for internal marks.

I and my friend Madhuri finished our programming and came on desk for viva
proff: bla bla bla........???
me:(which subject she is asking??)...I don't know
Maddy:( yupiee i know it..)....blah blah ....
proff: Lock kar diya jaye??
me and maddy:( wtf is she holding game show KBC here)...haan...
proff:sure
we: sure(controlling our laughter....seriously my ears were releasing hot air )
proff: kalat chawaab...(pitch was really high and irritating with funny touch).....

Even tough we gt ok marks this was the kind of vivas which I remember and laugh till today....

But I miss those days when I used to sit whole night completing writeups,sipping coffee whole night, calling over phone and learning the circuit diagram, even remembering observation table ,etc. Submission period was the best...