Driving Car in USA- III

Two months of driving gave me the necessary confidence on the road. One day one of my friends came to my residence. Since I had a class, I took him in the car to show him Loyola Columbia Campus.

This time I was overconfident. There was a tendency to show off – see how well I drive. Things were going fine, and we were chatting (may be chattering) continuously. After about 20 minutes, in the rear view I noticed the police jeep following our car. I was confused whether the police is following me or he is on a joy ride. Then the police man shouted on the speaker ‘park the car on the side’. It became clear that he is after me, but now the confusion was which side do I need to park – right or left. Sensing my confusion the police man shouted ‘park the car on the right side’.

Being a law abiding citizen of India (in USA Social Security Number, I am referred as the alien; since I liked the film ‘alien’, I was excited being called alien), I obeyed the instruction immediately (as if I had a choice). The one happy thought during that time was if police takes me to the station, then I have a valid reason to miss the class. And it was a small consolation.

I parked the car and the police man parked his vehicle 200 meters behind me. I opened the door to get out, the police man shouted ‘do not come out, and stay inside the car’. I shut the door (once again not much choice). The police man asked me to lower the window glass, and I did, then he asked me to show the license. To take out the license I had to stand up since it was at the back pocket of my pants. The car was small and I am big, yet he insisted me to stay inside. After some struggle I managed to pull out the license and gave it to him. He was surprised that I was using international driving license not the USA driving license. Then asked for the vehicle license, I said that the car belongs to the college and I just don’t know where it is. He was losing his temper. He said, “Do they (college administration) know that you are using international license?” They only provided me the license (it was a lie; I got it through the internet, at desperate situation one is forgiven for saying few lies).

The police man was a good person, so he believed me. Then went to his vehicle and spoke to someone (might have been his superior). And I was looking for the vehicle license, and finally located it. I wanted to show it to him, and opened the door; again he shouted “stay inside”. I sat down, he came to me after five minutes and said, “This is a verbal warning, a sticker is missing on your license plate, inform the authorities to do the necessary thing, now you can proceed”. There was a great relief also some disappointment. I missed the chance of seeing the inside of American police station also now I have to take the class.

The police in USA seem to be obsessed with following procedures. For me it looked like OCD (obsessive-compulsive- disorder). I was wondering why do they need to follow elaborate procedure, then I realized that they are meticulous about procedures because they are afraid. Whereas our police in India is cool about procedures, because they are not afraid and are courageous. I think at home we are in safe hands guys.

My driving license is not a proper international license. What I have is the Indian driving license printed in the international license format. I became aware of this crucial fact only after the event. Internet guys have just bluffed me and in turn unknowingly I had bluffed the police man. Since, the police man was good, he overlooked the detail (even though he followed the procedure religiously). From the outlook of the license, he assumed that it is an international license.

My teaching assignment has come to an end. The fall semester is over. And it is time to come home. Thank god there is no more driving at USA.