What Our Students Say

I had never even sat in the driver’s seat before. The first three days we did nothing but clutch and brake in a quiet street, which felt slow at the time, but by the second week I was driving on the main road without thinking about my feet. My instructor never once made me feel silly for asking the same question twice.

Traffic near Mandian was the thing that scared me, not the car. We stayed off the busy roads until I was ready and then built up slowly. By the last week she was barely saying anything and I was just driving. The pick and drop meant I actually finished the course instead of missing days.

I enrolled over WhatsApp from home and never had to visit an office, which is the only reason my family agreed. Female staff for pick and drop as well, not just the lesson. The whole thing was handled by women from start to finish.

Hill starts were my problem. We practised them again and again on the slopes near home until the car stopped rolling back. Now I drive up there without thinking about it. Worth every rupee of the thirty day course.

Parking in the streets near Supply is hard and that is where I needed the most work. My instructor was patient about it. I would have liked one or two more days of practice at the end, but I can park now and I could not before.

I had driven a little with my brother but had gaps. Seven days was enough to fix them properly. The theory part was useful too, they showed me how to check the oil and what the warning lights mean, which nobody had ever explained.

I drive longer distances so we spent time on following distance and overtaking rather than just parking. Mam Maryam herself took two of my lessons. Very organised, and the timings were always on time.

I was extremely nervous before the first lesson. I told my instructor exactly what I was afraid of and she changed the plan around it. Nothing was rushed. I passed my test on the first attempt.

Learning on the automatic made a big difference for me, the clutch was what I dreaded. Confirm your area for pick and drop first, mine was at the edge of the range, but they told me straight away rather than after I paid.

If you have taken a course with Maryam Driving School, a few honest sentences help the next woman decide — far more than anything we could write about ourselves.

Send it on WhatsApp and tell us how you would like to be credited: first name only, first name and initial, or anonymously. Nothing is published without your agreement, and you can ask us to remove it at any time.

•Which course you took, and in which city

•How much driving you had done before

•What you found hardest, and whether it got easier

•Whether pick & drop made a difference

•What you would tell someone who is nervous