Age: 12
Car: Gypsy King '98, carburettor one.
Tutor: Myself
I was in 8th standard and father had bought a new Gypsy after selling off our Padmini an year back. Once my youngest uncle told me the theory about how a car is driven. He did not know driving himself but knew a little about how to do the ignition, how to press the clutch and engage the 1st gear and then how to release it slowly while keeping the accelerator pressed accordingly.
I started pushing the Gypsy to a place near our home, nearly 100 mtrs or so, then start it and then 'drive' it in 1st gear for 10 mins only, during hot afternoons. It was so easy to push it all by myself that it was almost magic. The only hurdle was, I could never engage the reverse gear because it had a reverse sounding speaker. So after 'driving' it, I again used to push back the Gypsy in its original position. Then I had to clear the tracks that were made on the ground to clear any trace of me stealing it every afternoon during that summer. After a few days I found out the location of the speaker also and used to disconnect one of the two wires before engaging the reverse gear. This made 2 gears accessible to me now. 1st and reverse. Heaven! I used to put back the wire again everyday after my 'driving'.
After a couple of months, we were travelling to a nearby city when my father suddenly asked me if I wanted to learn a little driving on the empty road. I agreed overwhelmingly. He was about to ask me to start the car by turning the key to ignition but I did that even before he asked me. He surprisingly asked me how did I know how to start the car. I answered him that I learnt it by watching him only. Then as he was about to ask me to engage the 1st gear, I was already doing it. He again asked me how I Knew how to do that. I again answered that I learnt it by watching him only. Then he asked me to slowly release the clutch and press the accelrator. To his utter surprise I did that smoothly and did not stall even once. So he asked me to engage the 2nd gear.
Now, for the 2nd gear, my eyes went to see the clutch area momentarily but I did that too without much hassle. Then came the 3rd gear. I was able to do that too. Then he asked me to use the brakes and slowly bring the Gypsy to halt and my eyes went automatically to see/find the brakes. It was really funny to not 'find' the brakes.
He then told me that I was a quick learner and then he often used to give me the driving seat more often but only on empty roads. Never scathed the Gypsy even a bit. I drove it for a good 12 years.
After a couple of months, I used to take the Gypsy 5kms away to the banks of Ganga during the afternoons. There I learnt 4WD high and low of the Gypsy by carefully and repetitively reading the user manual. I became so confident that once I was really stuck in the mud of the banks of Ganga and some villagers started laughing off that the kid is going to be thrashed by his folks now. Little did they know the power of 4WD Low range of the Gypsy. It was acute fun to see their faces when I asked them of no help and the Gypsy came out to be fine.
I used to wash the Gypsy so often, almost everyday, that neighbours and parents used to think that I have gone mad. But it was a trick to hide the fact that the Gypsy had been somewhere during the afternoon
My family, even today, doesn't know that I used to sneak out the Gypsy.
Riding:
The next year I asked my father to buy me a scooter. He scoldingly told me to try his (1985) Bullet if I'm so willing to ride a 2 wheeler. I told him that I cant even think of pulling it out of its main stand owing to its heavy weight. He told me to forget about a 2 wheeler if I can't handle the Bullet.
I thought for 2 days and asked my youngest uncle the 'theory' of riding the Bullet too. He told me all about it. He himself did not know any riding either
It took me many days to learn how to kick start the Bullet. Also, I used to pull the Bullet a lot on road side just to get used to its heavy weight. The kicks used to give me those famous 'back' too and it used to hurt the foot a lot till I finally learnt the trick to kick starting it finally.
Then one fine day I just gathered courage, sat on the Bullet, kick started it and put it in 1st gear. Never looked back again.
I feel extremely lucky to have learnt driving and riding this way and on two iconic automobiles.
Have driven many sorts of vehicles and motorcycles since then, including, worthy of mention, 2 Tatras and a Tank but nothing charms me like the good old memories.