How far would I go just to drive a car?

I was driving. The road seemed empty. Then, all of a sudden, a bus was overtaking me, and another was coming from the opposite direction. A moment of pause. Where did it all start?

It started right after my external exam. It didn’t go that great. As I was coming out, my uncle called me. “I’m in the village for work. Do you want to come here? You can drive the car while going back home.”

I was excited but unsure. I’d only heard the village’s name before and didn’t know the route. Should I take the risk? Would I regret it later? I didn’t know. “But even if it turned out good or bad, I’d be coming back with an adventure with me,” I told myself.

So I went to Secunderabad. Luckily, I found a bus going to that village. It was peak summer and I hadn’t had my lunch. I was barely surviving on water, stuck in city traffic, standing in that bus. At that point, I was regretting my choices. Will I have my adventure story? That became secondary. Will I even survive this journey? That was the bigger question.

We finally got out of the city. Fresh air, empty roads, the worries just dropped. How long had it been since I’d seen no red signals, no honking, just space to breathe? Wasn’t I missing this all along?

I started noticing people on the bus. An old man casually talking to everyone around, kids going to their grandparents’ places. The lush green fields and cattle grazing made it feel like a frame straight out of a movie.

Almost two hours in, there were only four people in the bus, the driver, conductor, me and another girl. An almost-empty bus on a smooth road through small hills and beautiful villages. I felt like I was in some cartoon like Heidi.

Village after village passed. Every time we entered one, I thought, “Okay, maybe this is it,” but no. I kept thinking people here looked happy. I’ve always thought city life is the dream, but villages have something better. people you love to be with, basic things taken care of, air that doesn’t feel heavy. Maybe premium education or advanced hospitals are 40–50 kilometres away, but they’re still reachable. Then why do we leave all this for cities? I’m not in a position to answer, even we left for better education & infrastructure. But it wasn’t bad here either.

By the time I reached, it was around 4 PM, three hours in the bus. I sat for a few minutes, had some fruit and then took the steering wheel. At first, I was a bit fearful. It had been a while since I drove, but the empty roads made it easier.

And that’s where we are now, back on that empty road, right after the bus-overtaking moment. I kept driving. It wasn’t as perfect as I’d imagined. I stalled sometimes, managed fine other times. I thought I’d really enjoy the ride back, but what stayed with me more was actually the bus journey.

Looking back, I was unsure at first, but my love for driving made me take that step. If something feels impossible but it’s for something you truly love, you’ll find a way to do it.

If I hadn’t taken that unpredictable step, I probably would’ve overthought it a thousand times. But isn’t life sometimes about doing random things just to feel alive? Going to a village just to drive a car wasn’t part of any plan. But in the end, it was worth it.

And this…. is how far I would go, just to drive a car.