Drive (Author - Ravichandran Ramanuja)

My sis has had a license to drive for sometime now. She and I work in the same company in Pune, and we travel on weekends to Badlapur (near Mumbai) which is home. She had never driven on the express highway before and I asked her to drive - actually she's a little low on confidence in driving (thank goodness for that) and wanted to drive on the highway and gain some experience.

So we enter the highway, and after the food mall/petrol pump she takes over my Siena's controls. We're going okay for sometime, the major activities being that she's keeping the car between the painted lines, sticking to and about the speed limit of 80, cursing a Scorpio which weaves from her right to the left and then again goes to the right lane, and a GJ registered Civic which blows past.

Suddenly she asks "What leg do you use to brake?". I say (without thinking) of course the right leg. If the right leg is not pressing the accelerator, it hovers about the brake pedal to ensure that I'm ready to brake. And we drive on until it strikes me!

 "Which leg do you use to brake?" Without batting an eyelid, or taking her leg off the gas she says "the left". I was a little shocked, told her that that was incorrect, and she needs to use the right leg.

 She says ok. And we nearly banged into the back of a bus!

 We were on the bridges in Lonavla with sharp curves, luckily not doing too much (about 50 kmph or so) and we had to slow down as a bus was taking the curves alongside a truck. I began to notice that there was no letup in speed, and the rear side of the bus was fast approaching! I say loudly "Bugs (that's her name, short for Bhargavi), Brake!!", She nods, and the rear looks ever so closer! "Brake, what are you doing??" We get real close, and then with about 15 feet to go, we brake and she's back in control.

She says (coolly) "Arre yaar, i was trying to brake with the right leg"

I (wiping the sweat on a cool winter evening) "so did you manage to hit the brake with the right leg?"

She shakes her head, accelerates and says "no, Left"