110: What being too afraid of the rules can do to us

“Everything else was good, but because of that one thing, I have to fail you, sorry”, she says (in a sorry-not-sorry tone of voice). I apologise, or thank her, as she gets out of my car. At least, I'd like to believe I did, but I’m totally blanking on that detail.

What I do clearly remember is, as I gape at her walking away, my brain's going, “umm, what the eff just happened?”

For five years I’d driven through Bangalore on my own. I could even navigate the by lanes of Shivajinagar like a pro. But my first driving test in the US? I’d flunked!