My first vehicle was a greyish Bajaj scooter that belonged to my father. It was the vehicle on which I picked up the basics of driving. I used to ride it to my hostel in IIT Delhi. It was a huge hit on campus. I remember once my friends hid my scooter and I searched the entire campus for it. Tired and angry after a long search, I had almost lost all hope of ever seeing it again and headed to my room. I discovered that my friends had plonked it on my bed in the hostel. I was very relieved. I have very fond memories of the scooter. It was one of the last models that Bajaj produced before they switched to motorbikes.
Nowadays, I am too absent-minded to enjoy driving. I tend to lose focus and think of random plotlines or a movie scene, even when I am behind the wheel. I think that I am not a very car person. I like their functional aspects, and that they get you from one place to another quickly, but prefer to be driven than drive on my own. That gives me time to develop my characters, improvise the script in real time, when being driven from one place to the other.
As told to Nikhil Varma
