License to think

Radio in the tea shop was roaring a semi old song, with a couple of mid sized very old speakers that are older than fifty percent of the population in India. Men were flocking around the counter to taste the watery sweety “national drink” in a sticky glass for a nominal rate. Bicycles were parked in front of the shop which made the rush hour traffic slow down. Cars were honking hard to get the pedestrians, parked vehicles and animals move. Driving a car in such streets is never an easy task. There were people all around; there were animals all around and there was women drivers to negotiate with as well. Motor bike drivers are mad as they tend to come in the way all of a sudden.

Even though, it is difficult to drive a car in India, many people aspire to drive one. That was exactly why I found myself in the middle of a chaotic street as early as ten in the morning. I had to be on time to apply for my learner’s license. The RTO of my area chose the most congested, chaotic place in town to setup his office.

I woke up at 9:45 for an appointment at 10. When I woke up, I had two options, either to go to the RTO straight from the bed or brush my teeth, have coffee and go there fifteen minutes late. I chose to be on time. So, I was standing there, with a rubber slipper, a naturally worn out shorts, an un-ironed dirty white T-shirt and with my hair flying all around. I was running all the way to just to be there on time. When I went there three minutes before time, I saw a big queue in front of the RTO building. The queue almost circled the 1500 square meter office once. I went inside and told the peon that I had an appointment to apply for a learner’s license. He pointed the back end of the queue and asked me to stand there.

“I have an appointment at ten” I said.

“Yes” he said. “I know that, all the others have one too”

“Gosh” I said to myself. This office was printing appointments like pamphlets and was giving it to everyone. Slowly, I walked past all the people in the queue to the end. I stood there for thirty minutes. Literally in the middle of the street, starving for a cup of coffee, looking for some shade, wanting to talk to someone. But, nothing happened. The queue moved eight inches in the first 30 minutes. That’s about one inch every four minutes.

After giving a 10 AM appointment for about a hundred people, the RTO checked into work by around 10:45 AM. Typical.

“These guys are ought to be sacked” the person in front of me in the queue remarked about the late arrival of the RTO.

“And shot” I said.

He turned back and looked at me head to toe. Twice. And then turned back.

I was getting bored with not doing anything for nearly an hour.

“Why are you applying for a license?” I asked the same person standing in front of me.

He turned back and said “Well… My manager has a car and is looking for a driver, and I think I will fit in for that post”

“Oh! That’s good then” I said.

“why are you applying for a license?” he asked.

“Well.. “ I started

“Are you planning to drive a travels’ vehicle?” he asked, without giving me time to answer the previous question.

“Travels vehicle??” I thought for a moment. This guy actually thinks that I was there standing in the queue for an hour so as to ultimately seek a job as a cab driver in a travels company.

“I think you should go for yellow board badge as well” He said.

“What is that?” I wanted to ask. But, he jumped in faster and said “ This will enable you to drive throughout India” he said with a serious tone.

“Oh my god! Will he ever let me talk?” I thought.

“Have you already found a job?” He asked

Before I could answer this question, he continued “My manager has another car. Can I ask him?”

I looked at myself. I was wearing a bathroom slipper, a good for nothing shorts and good for cleaning T-Shirt. “No wonder” I thought.

“Yes please. That will be of great help” I said.

“So, are you also applying for the national permit license” I asked.

“No. For that, one has to pass tenth standard” he said sounding as though tenth standard is something really big.

“Good” I thought. At least I look like a tenth standard pass for his eyes.

After two hours of crawling, I applied for my license. On my way back, I was thinking about my conversation with this unknown person. He knew nothing about me. He had no idea that I was working in the UK for more than three years with one of the best airlines in the world. He just looked at me like a normal human being and even offered me whatever help he can.

I felt that this is one of a very few occasions the almighty stepped in to remind me that whoever I am, or whatever I do, at the end of the day, I am just another human being in the planet. Superior to none and inferior to none.

The ultimate realization is that “I am not the best person around. At the same time, no one is better than me”