Annamalai Driving School

Running a driving school in Villivakkam is always an adventure. Our office is at No. 131, right near the Don Bosco School, so we get a lot of noise from the school bells and kids playing during the day. Chennai traffic is something else, especially around here. We spend most of our hours in the car, teaching people how to navigate the lanes without hitting a stray cow or a speeding auto-rickshaw. It’s a patient kind of job. You have to be okay with people grinding gears and stalling in the middle of a busy intersection. The office itself is just a basic room where we keep the licenses and the student forms. It’s got a fan that squeaks a bit, but it keeps the air moving. We’ve been at this address for a good bit now, and we’ve seen the roads change and the traffic get heavier every year. Sometimes we have to reschedule lessons because of the rain, which can really flood some of these Chennai streets. But mostly, it’s just a routine of meeting new people who are nervous about getting behind the wheel. We give them the basics and let them practice until they feel okay. It’s not a glamorous business, just a local service for the folks living around 600049. We don't have a big team, just a few of us who know the roads well and have a lot of patience. It gets very humid here in the afternoons and we usually end up drinking a lot of water.