Reckless

I had landed a short term assignment in another country, a small industrial town with zero public transport, and I was stationed there for three months minimum. For the first few days, my project coordinator picked me up every morning. She was an early riser, started work at 6 am, and would swing by at 5:30 to get us there on time. But she was out the door by 3 pm, while I was still lingering at my desk till 6, tied up on calls with a team scattered across time zones.

Eventually the company recommended I just rent a car. I had never driven outside India before, let alone in a country where you drive on the right, and the car I picked up was automatic, the first automatic I had ever driven, having grown up on a manual stick back home. I signed a three month rental without giving it much more thought than that.

Young as I was, I hadn’t thought it through. I got in, started driving, and the moment I hit the road I realized how different the whole discipline of driving was here. I didn’t know the rules, and it showed, mistake after mistake. My only plan was to memorize the route from the office to the rental company and retrace it exactly on the way back, and there was no margin for error, this was long before smartphones, and I had no GPS to fall back on.

Sure enough, I missed the turn I needed and had no choice but to keep going straight, and that’s when it hit me how far out of my depth I really was. I didn’t even know how to take a U-turn without breaking some law I couldn’t name, so I ducked into a residential street, sized up the road, turned the car around, and eased back onto the highway.

By now I was completely lost, with no idea where the office even was. I kept driving until a mall appeared, pulled into its parking lot, and got out to approach a stranger, who looked startled to have a foreigner walk up to him. I asked for directions anyway, and thankfully he obliged, pointing me the right way.

I followed his directions to the letter and finally reached the office. Stepping out of the car, I noticed my legs were shaking, adrenaline still working its way out of my system. It’s one of those things I pulled off entirely on my own, far from home. I don’t know if I’d have called it reckless back then, but I’d think twice before doing it now. Whether that’s growing wiser or just growing more afraid, I still can’t decide.