‘Never say never,’ my mother always used to tell me. I was very poor in Geography as a student, especially maps. They would have anything placed anywhere in it and it would be a stress buster for my family to read my maps. They would have a hearty laugh interrogating me what made me mark them like this. Then I made a promise to myself that I will part my ways with them after school and not to become a laughing stock anymore. But as destiny would have it, it has become an integral part of everyone’s life today including me. Neither I can live with it nor can I let go off it.
My life was much more comfortable and easier before GPS navigation apps existed. I could simply avoid going somewhere pretending not knowing the route. Post invention of these apps, I am robbed of this excuse. Now not only we can check the route to our destination but also see the traffic jams, the total time to commute, the petrol pumps, restaurants on our way. Everything is displayed by that map like our detailed blood report, including not so pleasant unwanted facts as well.
Earlier I used to leave my home 15/20 minutes prior to the estimated time of my departure after taking the help of 2/3 life lines, phone of a friend and the audience poll. I was given a lot of options and suggestions even by those who rarely travelled on that route. Those who were frequent commuters, would suggest me to leave a few minutes early to reach on time. I would accordingly make provision for some spare time to verify my route with the traffic police or shopkeepers on my way to ensure that I was on a right track. These means were time tested and ensured that I took the right route that led to my destination.
With ‘Navigation Maps’ on my phone and on my car screen now, I can check the estimated travel time, route required to reach the destination with precision, if there is no truck traffic as it does not consider trucks as mode of transport on the road and happily ignores their very existence on our highways or city roads. Hence now I leave my house an hour earlier expecting that the arrow which travels with me parallelly on the screen can throw googlies at me or may suddenly develops an ego problem. I feel it finds it below its dignity to travel with a person of such a poor caliber who does not even know the roads of her own city. Unexpectedly, it freezes and does not budge from its place on the screen. Helplessly I dive deep down the ocean of my vague memory and start getting the déjà vu of the place I have never visited in this life time. I start feeling confident enough to take the straight road before the next right turn. Now that arrow feels ignored and disrespected so it decides to take revenge on me. It quickly wakes up from its slumber and covers that distance in no time to catch me on the road, only to inform that I have missed the right turn to my destination already and not only have I missed it but it is left behind almost by half a kilometer. Now it is my time to freeze. I struggle to find the way to my destination by looking helplessly at my map for the route to be taken but by now it appears like an amoeba with blue outline in an attempt to reroute itself. I do not have a choice but to cajole it and wait till it finds its own way out of this mess to guide me further…
Sometimes the map decides to play a mind game with me. It shows me the route ahead with a bright blue line, but the arrow on it is facing exactly in the opposite direction of the route staring at me like a bull charging in the bull fight. Now I am playing ‘I dare’ game with it and decide to follow the blue line by ignoring the arrow which is looking into my eyes. I accept the challenge but unsure of what the arrow wants me to do. Does it expect me to drive in reverse direction on that route as it appears and test my driving skills or it wants me to trust my gut feeling. I choose to drive straight ahead but visualising that route in reverse in my mind….
The other day when it is in a playful mood, it creates a riddle for me. We are both traveling in sync with each other when I reach a point where I see a flyover at less than 200 meters ahead of me. I am confused whether to take it or skip it; I look at the map with high anticipation, but it is in a playful mode already. It indicates both the options in equal bright coloured blue line, it knows when to trap me exactly. I am at such a juncture where I cannot even pull down the glass and ask for help, “Bhai which road I need to take?” A child in me too awakens now and I play ‘Eeny, meeny, miny, moe’ in my mind which tells me it is safe to take the flyover. Half way through the flyover, I dare the map, see I am on the right track. I smile and look at it which has accepted the defeat by indicating that this time I am correct. I give a pat on my back in my mind and start feeling proud about myself while destiny has a different plan for me. I can see the map changing its appearance like a chameleon in no time and those blue veins changing their course. Within no time it turns those ten minutes to my destination into twenty-five minutes. The map is wickedly smiling at me and is screaming its lungs out to tell me that I am fooled. Alas! I am tricked….
I can neither live with it nor can I leave it. When I try to match two different navigation tools on my phone and on my car screen, I go doubly mad as both keep screaming the different directions as if it is a race between them to drive me nuts. Every time I have use these maps, my heart beat becomes louder with its speed doubled. I feel my heart can take me faster than these maps. I am looking for a coaching class that will teach me how to read these maps and in between the lines (literally on the map.)