First driving experience

Prasad drove a couple of times in our colony but no more than a km or so. Today, Vijay, our driver took the day off. We really needed to do some groceries and get out of the house as we were home most of Saturday. He only drove 2-3 miles but it was pretty nervewrecking. First of all, he's driving a van so it uses up a lot more space than other vehicles. Secondly, it's a stick shift , need I say anymore. There are a lot of speed bumps on the main street and with a manual car, it's necessary to change gears very frequently. And there are many potholes surrounding the speed bumps so you need to be able to manoever the car around these holes. At the same time, you need to watch for all the people that are walking on the narrow streets, the autos, motorbikes, the bicyles, and all the other vehicles out there. And if you don't stop the traffic to cross either to take a left or right turn, you'll just be stuck waiting forever. There is a whole hierarchical system, you can stop any vehicle smaller than you, but you don't mess with a truck because he doesn't care if he gets dinged. Anyway, we only went to Total Mall and I must say the drive was uneventful, the car did stall a few times and there was a motorcycle that was edging too close to us and Prasad had to honk twice to let him know we were there but nothing too hairy. It's funny how all the nuances of the road suddenly become so apparent which I did not notice when our driver was driving. Well, this had to happen some time, we can't be dependent on our driver at all times. In case it's not already obvious, I won't be driving any time soon :-)