At the wheel

Siddarth’s first outing in his Ford Mustang didn’t turn out to be a dream run. The car didn't behave;wouldn’t stay on course.
It wasn’t like the mimic-drive Siddarth does in the park, where he races me in his fantasy‘Lightning Macqueen’.My role is to play a slow coach that is left way behind 'Lightning Mcqueen' in our race round the park.

The Ford Mustang in his garage is demanding, in the sense that the battery-run red convertible wouldn’t ‘behave’ unless Siddarth keeps his foot firmly on the accelerator; and his hands, on the wheel. And our friend has yet to master the skill to keep his foot down on the ‘gas-plate’ for more than 30 seconds at a time

So, Siddarth’s first outing, a short drive on our neighbourhood walkway in San Ramon, CA, was erratic. It was a let-down, considering that he has been looking forward to it for some weeks now.Though Siddarth acquired his Ford Mustang several weeks back he couldn’t take it out of the garage for want of a helmet. He had been told that if he took the car out on the roadside walkway without helmet, the ‘police aunty’ would come. The Ford Mustang was stuck, all Siddarth was allowed to do was tinker with it in the garage and show off his car to brother Nikhil.
When his daddy brought home a helmet the other day Siddarth was thrilled because he could now take his car out of the garage – ‘police aunty won’t come’. He is familiar with the police aunty. She once gave Siddarth’s grandpa a ticket for not wearing seat-belt while they were driving to the airport.