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Drive to fame
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Chennai boy Ajit has shown exceptional drive at five
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PHOTO: S. R. Raghunathan
FASCINATION FOR THE WHEEL Ajit Manavalan
At the age of five, Ajit drives a goods carrier with ease. More interesting, nobody taught him how to drive. He understood the functions of clutch, brake and accelerator just by watching his father K. Manavalan drive the carrier. And Ajit does not get to sit next to the driver's seat very often. Only when the school bus does not turn up. What's more, the school is just two km from his house in Vetri Nagar.
Manavalan noticed Ajit's precocious talent for driving when the boy started the vehicle on his own and somehow managed to move it. As Ajit's legs were too short to be comfortably placed on the clutch and the brake, he gave up after a while.
Encourages interest
However, Manavalan decided to encourage Ajit's interest in driving. As the little fellow was literally `dangling' between the steering wheel and the clutch, the father had to make a few modifications. A four-by-four inch wooden block has been fixed to the clutch and a two-and-a-half-inch wooden plank on the seat so that Ajit's arms can reach the steering wheel and his left leg, the clutch. Ajit manages to access the brake and the accelerator without the aid of wooden planks.
When Ajit offers to demonstrate his skill at the wheel, I take the seat next to him, filled with trepidation. My fear vanishes as the boy adeptly reverses the carrier to make enough room to steer it past a car parked in front. Although he can drive at 60kmph, I ask him to drive slowly. Interestingly, Ajit is aware he is too young to drive a vehicle and that he would be hauled to the police station, if a traffic cop notices his presence at the wheel.
Ajit can drive almost all cars, provided the clutch and the steering wheel are made reachable. Following a television programme on Ajit's competence at the wheel, he has become very popular at the Kamaraj Matriculation Higher Secondary School, where he studies (UKG). Whenever Ajit's classmates visit him, they have a request — "Take us for a drive". For this reason, Manavalan has made some modifications, which will prevent Ajit from starting the vehicle with just the ignition key.
PRINCE FREDERICK
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