Driving without directions

I enjoy driving. Give me a nice windy day, a traffic-free highway with beautiful green fields on either side, some cheerful companions, and enough fuel to last the journey, and you'll find me a very happy man. "So where is the catch?", you might ask. "What is it that blots out the sunshine from your life?", you might enquire. It, simply is this - I have a very bad sense of direction. While driving is in sync with my soul, navigation is not. To phrase it in management jargon, "My competency vector has no component in any direction, pun unintended". My tendency to daydream while driving prevents me from registering the route, leading to hilarious(though only in retrospect) twists and turns along every path I tread.

While most people complain about the bangalore traffic, there is one aspect to it I secretly relish. In Bangalore, it is not uncommon to find two-ways converted to one ways , and for one ways to have their direction reversed, within a span of a few hours. This renders everyone clueless, thus making my own cluelessness due to genuine incompetence acceptable:-)

But I have to say I've really enjoyed driving on the American roads, partly because the roads are wide and people stick to the traffic rules, but just as much because GPSes are very common out there. I spent about 3 months in Dallas a couple of years ago, and thanks to my employer's generosity, I rented out a car, and had great fun driving around. Over that time, the GPS became my close friend. It proved to be loyal too, except for the one occasion when it accidentally led me to the Dallas zoo. I wouldn't have minded it so much had the zoo been open then. I think anyone starting a firm based on GPS technology in India can make a fortune by charging a minor amount for regular map updates.

After intensive research, I have figured out that the best way to get to a remote destination is to simply ask for directions, the caveat of course being the altruistic Bangalorean's tendency to offer help even when he is just as clueless as I am. So, being an engineer keen to apply the concepts he has learnt, I employ the technique of redundancy by asking several people, and taking a simple majority. In many American towns, you won't find enough people on the streets to apply such statistical techniques, so the pandemonium that reigns on the Indian roads does have its share of pluses!

In reality, my sense of direction isn't quite as bad as this post might lead you to believe, but there are times when it leaves me wishing for a life more ordinary:-)