My First Scratch

While reversing the car out of my parking, the bent right front wheel got stuck at the basement pillar. Shifting the gear to first, I inched ahead, but did not get the calculation right and the front of the car kissed another pillar. I did not feel the impact, but the security guard told me, and I got down to see four horizontal, small but visible lines at the corner of the bumper.

This happened barely a minute after I sat down for the first time at the steering wheel without someone who knew driving beside me. I bought a car last week, and this was meant to be a surprise birthday gift for Mom. My parents had been out for a month and had returned early morning last Thursday, and the car was delivered the same day in the evening. When I asked Mom and Dad to come down to the basement, they had thought I had wanted them to meet the girl I had finalized, and she had been shy and hesitant to come up home. Even after they reached the basement, it took them a couple of seconds to realize it were wheels and not heels.

So, the ten-day-old car has a minor scratch thanks to the overconfidence gained through three hours of driving lessons. Just because I did not want to argue, the other day I agreed with a friend otherwise, but driving a car is more difficult than riding a bike, for the simple reason it adds an extra dimension. On the road, a bike can be considered to be one-dimensional, and you don't have to bother about the far left edge scraping something.

Also, a bike is completely integrated with your body once you alight, and you can do everything without lifting either of the hands or feet, unlike in a car, when you have to constantly shift your extremities. Due to the linear nature of a bike, it is much easier to manoeuvre small gaps between vehicles and switch lanes. Of course a car is more comfortable, and poses lesser risk for you (and more for others) on the road.

Well, a four- and a two-wheeler are meant to serve different purposes, and have their own sets of comforts and discomforts. I could ride a geared two wheeler around eleven years ago, even though I had my own only last year. But never started learning driving a four wheeler till I bought one. And now that I have put my money into it, I'll have to learn driving, and no level of listing the problems of a car against the merits of a bike can really help.