I do not know how much it will help others but I tried to search with the same title on the web, when I wanted to get my two wheeler license from Chennai. For me I bought the vehicle (Honda Activa), learnt to ride it for two months and then went for the two wheeler test.
It all happened that my neighbour accompanied me to a nearby driving school, who was ready to help me out get a two wheeler license here in Chennai. Though I rode a lot on my Activa, in a small span of two months, but still people were scaring me with their stories about the 8-riding test. Even I read about somebody from Chennai had practiced the 8 riding 45 times and could manage to do it only twice successfully. Whereas I never had idea how the 8 will look like, how big it is.
I was told that tests occur only on Saturdays in Chennai and mine would be in the coming Saturday. They asked me to be at the driving school at around 8 AM in the morning, so I did. The lady at the reception asked me to go to the RTO office at 10:00 AM. The RTO office being quite some distance from the place, I decided to start at that time itself, as I was afraid of the increasing traffic during the busy hours. I reached there at around 8.45 AM. I was told by my colleagues that people used to go early and practice the 8 well, so that they can be successful in the test. But I was not aware of where the test would actually take place. Also, not knowing Tamil well, I always hesitate to communicate with people around. Finally people started gathering in the RTO compound for various purposes and the driving school people were seen at around 9.25 AM. They asked me to wait for half an hour more. I kept on waiting and at around 10.20 AM I became restless and asked them when the test would take place. They requested me to wait for 15 more minutes, and having no other choices I did that.
Finally I was taken to the field where the driving test would take place at around 10:50 AM. I saw many more two wheelers accompanied by men and women were in that field. There were two broken pieces of bricks that were placed at around 10 meters apart and people were encircling around like 8. When I reached there, people asked me to practice and I started practicing. I was not able to find proper balance, as also I was not able to have much control. I saw the bikes were doing the 8 so smoothly as also the ladies with their scooties. But somehow I was performing pathetic and once I stamped on the brick with my Activa and broke it. So, one of the persons from the crowd came up and asked me to practice outside the arena as people are getting disturbed by my performance. I went to the road and found it practicing even more difficult there as the road was too narrow for me to take a free U turn. So, I returned back to the crowd in despair believing that I will never make the test today.
One of the persons in the crowd asked me to go and practice in the arena. I said I was not at all confident in doing it. He gave me confidence and told me that I will be able to do it. I have to maintain a constant low speed. Decrease the speed at the turns and increase a bit on the straight. Also, he suggested me to increase by radius of the 8, and avoid taking sharp turns. I kept his adivce in mind and started practicing. This time after a bit of struggle I managed to do the 8 five times in a row successfully, without putting my legs down even for once.
Finally the RTO officer came and stood in a high platform. People queued in front of him. He started saying the basics to be taken care of while driving. It was all in Tamil so I understood only 20% of it. It went on till 45 minutes. A man standing near to me said that it was already 12:30 PM. They are supposed to windup by 1:00 PM max by 1:30 PM. So, the officer will be serious to only 10 -15% of the participants. The others will get the license with any performance. Hearing that I thought of going the last one. But, my driving school people called me after 4 participants completed their 8 lap. He told me to do the 8 showing all necessary turning signals and then go out of the test arena. He said it is easy, though I told him I was not feeling confident. When he called me I started doing my 8. In the first turn I showed my right arm to indicate I am taking a right turn. But as I left the accelerator it was getting difficult for me to keep the balance. Hence, I continued doing the 8 without any manual signals. I somehow managed to complete the 8 successfully and stopped in front of the driving school personnel. He asked me to go out of the arena. I moved out, and a person sitting with the RTO officer called me by my name. I went up to him. He asked me to sign in two places. Next was to take a photograph at the RTO office. Yes, I passed the license test and I was awarded a two wheeler driving license by Tamil Nadu Government. The next day I went to the driving school and collected my license.
