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ShareLast Sunday, I set the alarm to rouse my ninth grader for an early class, before school. It seems just yesterday that I had done the same for his sister, five years ago. Then having got ready super fast, gulping down a glassful of Bournvita, she would be ready to leave with her 'driver.' Today, the routine is the same, only the child has changed.
The other day, my husband and son were glued to the TV when Force India's erstwhile racer Fisichella got pole position and then a close second spot on the podium. Monday morning, as I slid sleepy-eyed behind the wheel and eased our silver Maruti on the rain-washed roads, trust my boy, still on a F1 high to say, "Mom, show your power. Don't let that Innova beat you...." I glared at the Behemoth and did not even try.
Our first Maruti 800 was fiery red and I had called it our little Ferrari (I am sure the carmakers will not be amused). She bore my efforts well for I had learnt driving at the 'tender' age of 40 when my husband was to leave for a long stint in the USA. With my 'package deal' in the car, many were the drives we have had weaving in and out through Mumbai's traffic-snarled roads that would make any racetrack seem a dream.
It was great fun ferrying them around for their classes.... In fact, with my daughter Aakanksha and her classmate who lives in the same society, both girls would be down in our Prabhadevi compound at 6.50am with a mission of making it to Tardeo on time for the 7am class. Being obsessed with punctuality, those 10 minutes were for me maniacal -- thankfully these were summer classes and the roads were empty -- I managed them without mishap and also honed my driving skills a bit.
Today, I am doing the same routine with Gaurav. So, late that night before the first early wake-up, I messaged Aakanksha that the 'slog' years had begun for Gaurav. She replied, "He he, Mom, All the best!"
My kids have taken the brunt of my driving well -- even the time my 'Ferrari' had a brush with the rear end of a BEST bus a few months after I started driving or the times I still continue to embarrass them in parking lots as I struggle to find a suitable spot for my car.
And even if they grumbled occasionally, "Dad's a better driver than you.... Mom, speed up," for those smiles and precious moments, this mom will turn a driver any time! As I will again today, with Gaurav as navigator, to zip off to New Bombay to celebrate my younger niece's last teen birthday....
