A Journey towards learning a Manual Car.
21 July 2021 was the day when my dad said to me why don’t you start learning to drive ,because personally I faced so many issues due to pick and drop service so my dad said it finally.
Next Day I woke up early in the morning at like 6 am and I just held the car keys and said to myself let’s go Laiba to learn driving because it’s a need now! Literally I can’t explain the feelings of that day, I have a very mixed feeling on that day. I was scared, I was nervous and at the same time I am confident and excited enough to learn driving.
On my first day my baba’s driver(uncle) told me the basic names that every car has, and also told me to remember these names with ABC like ACCELERATOR, BRAKE and CLUTCH and then he told me the gear system rule by saying, Remember each car will b geared slightly different, but a good rule of thumb for changing gears is that first gear is for speeds up to 10 mph, second gear is for speeds up to 15 mph, third gear is for speeds up to 35 mph, fourth gear is for speeds up to 55 mph and fifth gear is for reverse.
On my first day I drove a car in 1 gear and slowly, gradually I increased my car speed by using the accelerator and when I completed 1 round on ground, (me to myself ) AHH I did it!
On my second day the same cycle repeats. I start to drive a car by using 1 gear and gradually move to the 2 gear. I continuously start practicing on these two gears and complete the 3 rounds on the ground.
On the third day I started the car using 1 gear and when I changed the gear into 2 gear the gear stuck means I can’t moved my car towards 2 gear and I was so confused at that time, my uncle scold at me that yesterday you practiced to drive a car in 2 gear and today you forgot why? I Started practicing using 1 and 2 gear again. And I completed only 1 round. My third day was not good enough. That day was so scary and tough.
On the fourth day I started the car using 1 gear and immediately moved towards the 2 gear and I saw my uncle’s face. He was happy and He thanked God that today she remembered the things. And he told me to gradually move the gear towards 3 gear and on that day I also learned how to reverse the car .
On the fifth day I started the car using 1 gear, immediately moved towards the 2 ,3, 4 gear and then he asked me to reverse the car and guess what I did and he gave me 9/10 marks on my fifth day .
On the sixth and Seventh day I repeated the same practice again and again and completed the ground rounds like 8 to 9 times and I confidently said to myself now I know how to drive a manual car but still there is some sort of fear in my mind from the very 1 day when I changed the gears.
On the Eighth day, which was 1 day after the weekend, I woke up and my baba came to my room by using that your uncle told me that now you know how to drive a car and yesterday you did a lot of practice. I said yes baba uncle is right and then suddenly baba said okay so let’s take your test today and I was literally shocked I was like, no no no still I need practice I won’t give you any test. My baba smiled at me and said ok let’s practice today with me and I agreed upon this thing but when I reached on the ground he taken a test(he plays a game with her daughter haha),a test that how to change the gear in different situation, how to slow or fast the speed and I CLEARED THE TEST WITH GOOD MARKS and then he said to me as far as you cleared the test now take the car on the roadside today and I was shocked again by saying no-no I can’t do that ,there might be some possibility of accident because I am still a beginner!
Baba boosted my confidence and he had a belief in me that now I can drive a car and nobody imagined that from ground to my home garage side. I drove the car by myself and baba is so proud of me .
I try to write my journey short but there are a lot of things to tell yet okay let’s continue.
Within a few months by doing a lot of practice I know how to drive a car completely but still there is some fear. I don’t know when I will overcome this fear
After a few days for the very first time I came to university by driving a car on my own!! (Snapshot attached)
I Must say today if I know how to drive a manual car just because of my Baba, baba gives me a lot of confidence from day 1 till today . It’s been a 1 year since I drove a car and I am literally enjoying this journey. I don’t care to drive either in the huge traffic or on empty roads but one day I will buy my own automatic car and then move from manual to automatic….
On a lighter note Thankyou Baba for believing in me ,Every daughter needs a father like you !
Those Females who start learning a manual car I have a few suggestion for you my Ladies
→ Relax and be Confident
→ Sometimes you feel you don’t know what you are doing but it’s fine just relax
→ If another car disturbs you with the rings don’t listen to it, just drive the car at your own pace.
The first and last rule is Practice practice and practice because practice makes everyone perfect the more you practice the more you will be an expert on that skill.
..PEACE..
— Laiba Ghulam Rasool Memon —
— Hyderabad —
