In India a milestone is the 18th birthday. In the US its the 16th. And coincidentally whilst Freia in India celebrated her 18th, Reia who's here is celebrating her 16th. Interestingly one of the main incentives for Reia to join me in the US was the fact that you could get a driving permit at 16. And she saw this as her opportunity to do something ahead of her sister who by virtue of being 2 years elder got to do everything before her.
And so a couple of months before her birthday she started finding things she needed to do to get her permit on her 16th birthday. She asked me to get the papers needed and she also got her school to give her a certified copy of her results, which was one of the acceptable forms of identification. She also did something she had never bothered for her school exams. She spoke to a few friends about what was needed to be done for the driving exams and found an app that could help her prepare. She bought the app, her first app purchase.
She used the app and prepared more than I've seen her prepare for her school exams. Which is not much, but relatively speaking quite a lot. On the eve of her birthday, she started getting a little nervous. Especially when I showed her the sample papers on the DMV site where she wasn't able to get the required percentage of questions correct easily. She was torn between the joy of getting the permit and the sorrow of attempting and not getting it, on her birthday. She finally decided to be brave and attempt it.
On her birthday, April 2nd, I picked her up from school. And we went to the DMV. There was a long line, which is normal and we had to wait for about 45 minutes. The lady at the counter was nice, went through the papers and wanted to see Reia's marriage certificate. On realizing her faux pas, she apologized but not before pointing out that it was a long day, she was tired and that teenage marriages was not uncommon. Reia had a good laugh. Some think she's in middle school. And others think she's married. Finding the paperwork in order We were given a token number.
We had to wait for our turn and that came in another 20 odd minutes. Once again the papers were examined, the forms checked and on finding all okay, the payments received and asked to wait for the exams. The lady at the counter noticed it was her 16th birthday and wished her "Happy Birthday and Best of luck". Reia was happy. We sat just outside where the test were being conducted and waited for Reia's turn. We saw several teenagers go in for their exams. There was a mother daughter waiting too. Unlike us, they were busy. The mother was applying make-up to her daughter and the daughter too was applying makeup to herself. It was straight out of a Hollywood movie set where the makeup artist is getting the star ready for her shoot. In this case, I assume the shoot was the photo for the license.
The made up star was called. She took her vision test and color test and passed. In the meanwhile 5 teenagers who had gone came out. Some of them in tears. Others with sad faces, yet others with a grin but a negative shake of the head. They had all not made it. Reia was now scared. She started thinking of what her reaction should be after failing. Strangely enough she was now no longer nervous. Failing was the norm and so not a big deal. Whilst this happened the made up star was out. In under 3 minutes. She probably managed to get all of her first 5 questions wrong. And in true star style she had tears rolling down her eyes, and her makeup dripping across her face. I was glad I did not have to handle running makeup.
Reia was called. She too quickly cleared her vision and color test. And was taken to the dreaded computer test. 5 minutes went by. 10 minutes. 15 minutes. No sign of Reia. Others who had gone after her were coming out. Unsuccessful. 20 minutes later. Still no Reia. Finally I see Reia coming out. And the smile from cheek to cheek, lighting up the DMV told the story.
We then had to again stand in line, pay for the permit, stand in line, get the photo taken, stand in line and finally collect the license. And during all of this, which must have taken around 30 minutes, Reia couldn't stop smiling. I was relieved. I was desperate that she have a happy birthday. And it was. Probably the Happiest Birthday ever.
And so a couple of months before her birthday she started finding things she needed to do to get her permit on her 16th birthday. She asked me to get the papers needed and she also got her school to give her a certified copy of her results, which was one of the acceptable forms of identification. She also did something she had never bothered for her school exams. She spoke to a few friends about what was needed to be done for the driving exams and found an app that could help her prepare. She bought the app, her first app purchase.
She used the app and prepared more than I've seen her prepare for her school exams. Which is not much, but relatively speaking quite a lot. On the eve of her birthday, she started getting a little nervous. Especially when I showed her the sample papers on the DMV site where she wasn't able to get the required percentage of questions correct easily. She was torn between the joy of getting the permit and the sorrow of attempting and not getting it, on her birthday. She finally decided to be brave and attempt it.
On her birthday, April 2nd, I picked her up from school. And we went to the DMV. There was a long line, which is normal and we had to wait for about 45 minutes. The lady at the counter was nice, went through the papers and wanted to see Reia's marriage certificate. On realizing her faux pas, she apologized but not before pointing out that it was a long day, she was tired and that teenage marriages was not uncommon. Reia had a good laugh. Some think she's in middle school. And others think she's married. Finding the paperwork in order We were given a token number.
We had to wait for our turn and that came in another 20 odd minutes. Once again the papers were examined, the forms checked and on finding all okay, the payments received and asked to wait for the exams. The lady at the counter noticed it was her 16th birthday and wished her "Happy Birthday and Best of luck". Reia was happy. We sat just outside where the test were being conducted and waited for Reia's turn. We saw several teenagers go in for their exams. There was a mother daughter waiting too. Unlike us, they were busy. The mother was applying make-up to her daughter and the daughter too was applying makeup to herself. It was straight out of a Hollywood movie set where the makeup artist is getting the star ready for her shoot. In this case, I assume the shoot was the photo for the license.
The made up star was called. She took her vision test and color test and passed. In the meanwhile 5 teenagers who had gone came out. Some of them in tears. Others with sad faces, yet others with a grin but a negative shake of the head. They had all not made it. Reia was now scared. She started thinking of what her reaction should be after failing. Strangely enough she was now no longer nervous. Failing was the norm and so not a big deal. Whilst this happened the made up star was out. In under 3 minutes. She probably managed to get all of her first 5 questions wrong. And in true star style she had tears rolling down her eyes, and her makeup dripping across her face. I was glad I did not have to handle running makeup.
Reia was called. She too quickly cleared her vision and color test. And was taken to the dreaded computer test. 5 minutes went by. 10 minutes. 15 minutes. No sign of Reia. Others who had gone after her were coming out. Unsuccessful. 20 minutes later. Still no Reia. Finally I see Reia coming out. And the smile from cheek to cheek, lighting up the DMV told the story.
We then had to again stand in line, pay for the permit, stand in line, get the photo taken, stand in line and finally collect the license. And during all of this, which must have taken around 30 minutes, Reia couldn't stop smiling. I was relieved. I was desperate that she have a happy birthday. And it was. Probably the Happiest Birthday ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment