Blind Car Rally

“Car Rally for the Visually Impaired” – read the subject line from a friend of the first email in my inbox. Overpowering the temptation to look into any other mail, I quickly opened this one. There went a formal invitation asking for people to register to participate in the event to be held in a week’s time. And what interested me the most was – the navigator was to be a visually-impaired person! Let alone the innumerable races with fellow-passengers on crowded roads, varied attempts to emphasise speed as my motto, I had never before participated in a formal rally and this one seemed a desirable opportunity. I called and quickly registered. I needed two more participants, to be sourced from my end and the navigator would be provided for by the organizers – Madras Motor Sports Club (MMSC) and National Association for the Blind, Chennai (NAB). I zeroed in on two of my trustworthy friends – Suchi, to be my mathematician and Shony, to be the co-navigator. On Saturday, the eve of the rally – we had an orientation programme. The three of us presented ourselves on time, to find the hall packed with people who had arrived way before time. The coordinator from MMSC started his speech and invariably led the group to a series of formulae – Speed equals Distance multiplied by 60 divided by time taken…and used words like “be there at the right time in the right speed maintaining the right distance…of course, ensure that you are in the right direction as well.” I felt a steam of hot air evaporating from my head. Suchi looked at me from the end of the row and nodded – that why-are-we-evenhere look pierced deep within me. I hoped to find solace from Shony, who seemed to be looking around, totally avoiding my gaze. I had no idea what the coordinator was saying. To me and am sure to many others, he was merely rambling away. Seated right behind us were a group of 3 visually-impaired men constantly chattering (thereby distracting me from paying attention to the physics or mathematical lecture). Since I was not paying to the lecture anyways, I started observing them. One young man, in particular seemed to make jokes on almost every line that the coordinator said and comment on everything around in general. Internally, I knew – He was to be my navigator. I quietly went up to him, introduced myself and asked if he was allotted any driver. On answering in the affirmative, I asked if he would be my navigator – to which he cheerfully agreed! A decision had been made – Thiru was to be my Navigator. Mid-way the lecture, I understood that we had the option of brining in our navigators. I quickly went up the registration counter, lest they allot me a random navigator. To my dismay, they had! I had Thiru with me and we behaved like the best of friends and started heated arguments with those at the registration desk. The registration desk was in a chaotic mess – new entrants waiting to sign in, older ones screaming for their ‘competition number’, few others finding out who’s their navigator, and here we wanted to be on the same team. Finally after a lot of pressure from my end, the desk re-allotted me my navigator and Thiru gracefully and officially became a part of our team – Competition Number 24.

I introduced Thiru to the other team mates, who thought he was randomly allotted. (I told them much later that he was a chosen one!!) The first remark that Thiru made to all the three of us was – “You don’t worry madam(s), we will surely win a trophy”. Phew! What a sigh of relief we all heaved! I liked the confidence he had. We were given sample Braille Tulip maps, if we wanted to test drive.

“Please be here at 8.30 tomorrow morning.” I heard

someone announce. We chose not to test drive and parted ways. As I saw Thiru walk away, I heard him giggle to his friends, “I have three ladies in my team.” 29th March 2009 dawned. I didn’t have a good night’s sleep – sleeplessness caused out of sheer excitement. Shony and Suchi met early morning to discuss the math involved and practise on formulae’s and calculations – while I was briskly cleaning my car! When all the three of us were done – each one was satisfied with one’s own individual contribution to the rally, the preliminary activities that needed little or no intervention from the other, of course. We reached Savera Hotel, the place where the rally was to be held at 8.30 (On the dot) and saw cars of different makes and colours all lined up for the event. I proudly parked mine amidst the other competitors. Big, loud stickers bearing the competition number were on three sides of every car. The yellow sticker stood out on the white surface of my car! We found Thiru who was his usual self – chatting and laughing with his little group. The organisers gave all the navigators a cap and a bag filled with goodies as compliments. We were four seated in the car. Suchi, the math geek sat in the front with me, while Shony and Thiru shared the rear. “Priya, you better drive slow, and just listen to what the mathematician has to tell you”, said Thiru. Shony and Suchi chuckled. Celebrities flagged off the first few cars. We were in line. Each car was to start at one-minute intervals. The car in front of us left and we were given the Braille tulip map with the time sheets. Thiru almost snatched the map and started reading it. Shony took position: Taking down notes. We were now at the gate. People cheered from all sides wishing us luck! 10 – 9 – 8 – 7 – 6 – 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – Go! And the first few meters….I had no idea of the route? “T-Junction. Turn right. Drive at 18 kmph”, said Shony. While I was at 18 kmph, Thiru and Shony managed to makes notes of the route and quickly passed it to Suchi – who then gave me directions and speed instructions. “Take the first right, after the signal. Drive at 18 kmph at the time taken for this would be 17 minutes.” “5 Cross-roads go straight at 24 kmph and you’re on the right track.” “T-Junction, turn left at 12 kmph and be there at the 12 th minute” “Enter Kasturi Estate Ist Main Road at 30 kmph and be there at the 7th minute”. “Time equals speed multiplied by 60 divided by the distance”, I murmured the words. “Would you like to do the math”, Suchi offered. I avoided the question trying to concentrate on driving. I was at 18 kmph.

Each of us had a specific role to play – Thiru was the first one to read out the route map given to him in Braille. Shony took notes – didn’t miss out a word that Thiru read. The calculations were then done by Suchi and finally I drove at a particular speed against a set time….we were four interlinked. It was complete integration – of skill and labour and brain and technique. “Drive for 20 minutes at 12 kmph? Do you guys know that it is a task driving at that speed?” I asked. “It is a rally madam, not a race”, Thiru jeered. And the three of us laughed. We passed our first Time Control Marshall, someone who would stamp our time sheets and enter the time. If we missed a Marshall, we were to be charged 30 penalty points. Being early at a Marshall costed 2 penalty points for every minute and being late costed 1. At a time when we should have been driving at 18 kmph, I started speeding out of sheer exhaustion. As I was speeding away, I noticed a couple of cars driving at snails pace in the extreme left of the road. As I pointed out the cars, Thiru remarked, “That’s the pace you must drive at. Drive slow now.” The odometer showed 10 kpmh. I increased the speed to 18 kmph. Thiru and Shony had completely translated from Braille and Suchi was left with the entire math. She broke down the parts to bits and pieces and gave me the solved puzzle. I was the only one left to drive at the right speed. I finally succumbed to following all of the instructions – to the T. Many Marshalls passed and we stamped our sheets at every one of them. Thiru predicted a few places where the Marshalls would be, and yes, they were there! It was ten minutes past the allotted time when we drove back to the starting point. Many cars had arrived. The Marshall stamped our last time-sheet and the rally was officially over. The 2.5 hour rally seemed to me like Zen Meditation – I was oblivious to my surroundings. 4 hours later came the prize distribution ceremony. Novice Category, the third prize goes to Competition No: 28 – Driver: Marian Pais & Navigator: M.Muthiseli. Clap Clap! Clap Clap! The second prize goes to Competition No: 24 – Driver: Priya Krishnaswamy & Navigator: R.Thirunavukarasu. Clap Clap! Clap Clap! And the first prize goes to Competition No: 18 – Driver: Senthil Kumar & Navigator: M.Kannan. Clap Clap! Clap Clap! Thiru was all smiles as he heard his name being called. He looked around in pride as the audience applauded. I leaned over and said to him, “So, how does it feel?” He looked back at said, “Feels good and do you feel good too?” “Oh yeah! Winners! That’s who we are”, I said as Shony and Suchi gave me sharp piercing looks. I moved over to Thiru’s side. It was a moment to cherish as Thiru and the three of us went up to get our trophy and certificates in Braille. When the ceremony got over and we said our good-bye’s, Thiru pulled me over and said, “Good Driving Priya. Make sure we are partners’ next time as well. So long farewell!”