I have never been very fond of GPS devices. And even though
I used one in the US, I always used to try to use my direction sense, or lack of it. Moving back to India - the
thought or talk of buying a GPS device in India was out of question – because of
roads without names, detours, perpetual constructions, and what not. In fact, I
used to get highly amused when someone
would talk about it. If you have lived in India long enough, you know that the
best way to reach a destination is to ask the autowallahs, or bikers, or
anyone. They would typically tell you all the twists and turns to get you to
your destination.
One fine day, I was out to get a cup of coffee and saw these
cool looking dudes trying to sell Garmin to all people who work at Cyber Greens,
and go to the food court. Which, in fact, are many. In tune with my compulsive
shopping ( you know how you always need to be connected with yourself – and I hadn’t shopped for anything since the weekend and it was mid-week), I randomly
picked up the cheapest GPS device that they had been selling on the Kiosk. The
only solace/comfort of the shopping was that I had picked the cheapest device, and
for once, my brother thought that it would be helpful. To write a bit more
about my brother, he actually draws maps, that are better than google maps for
me- for all the random places that I have to drive to.
So – back to GPS -- there it was, the GPS device, in my car
for over a week, and I hadn’t even opened it – till today happened. Having
moved the office space recently – from the very hep New Gurgaon to the old
Gurgaon- where traffic jams are the way to reach -- I was trying to explore a
less traffic-y road at 10:00 in the night. That was totally insane of me, but I
was trying to be Miss Know –It-All. I barely recalled what my brother told me
once, and thought of exploring the route. So, predictably, I was totally lost
on the deserted roads of Old Gurgaon – and I was really scared. I tried calling
my brother - who is really Mr –Know-It-All routes, but his phone was not reachable. And
suddenly, I remembered the INRs that I had spent on the device, the device itself,
and plugged it in.
Guess What – I actually reached home – from I don’t know
where – following the directions of a heavy American accent, trying to
pronounce Gurgaon and Dakshin and Shankar C-H-O-W-K. Oh Well, the GPS device in India,
actually work. So far!!
