As we snaked our way in the car through villages and fields in the
closing darkness I wondered, not without trepidation the power that media giant
Google has begun to exercise on our lives. In the past spiritual gurus used to
exercise a similar power over ordinary people who would blindly follow them in
search of a direction in their lives. We too followed the directions obtained
on Google Maps displayed on the smart phone on our way back to Delhi from a
holiday in the hills in search of a quicker way to get home through the heavy
traffic. But once we diverted from the highway I had the feeling of following
some kind of a pied piper who would lead us God knows where. It could be to the
right destination but it could also be to the edge of the precipice and
destruction.
On the way out we had discovered a relatively clear route along the
Upper Ganga Canal that had avoided the usual congested towns. On the way back
too, therefore, we were keen to take the same way back so that we got home well
in time for the early dinner. God (and Google) had other plans for us. We found
the Canal after a brief stopover at Khatauli but about 25 to 30 kilometres down
the road we got stuck in a traffic pile-up. It was here that Google Maps kicked
in showing us an alternative route. Dusk was closing in but trusting Google, as
if it was like the good old spiritual gurus of the past, we got off the main
highway on to the narrow village lanes and bye-lanes, sometimes paved with either
bricks or tiles and sometimes just mud tracks, meant for bullock carts and
tractors not highway traffic.
Startled men, women, children and cattle made way, not just for us but
for dozens of other cars that had taken the same detour to get past the
pile-up. It became obvious that they too had put their travelling fates in the
hands of Google Maps. My daughter was reading the maps and directing her
brother who was at the wheel as we bumped along through the darkness apparently
in the middle of nowhere. The only comfort that we were on the right way was
the row of headlights and tail-lights in front and behind. Like us there were
many who apparently following Google Maps religiously. We became aware of the many
hazards of the unknown path that Google Maps had opened for us as we saw one
car pull up on the side to change a flat tyre – flattened no doubt by the
jagged stones. In one place we honked our way past a marriage procession while
in another we were held up for a short while as a posse of policemen conducted
a raid on public drinkers. In fact, I wondered whether Google has ever thought
about the large number of people it inconveniences in its quest for information
and more information about the way that people travel in India. These lanes and
bye-lanes were certainly not meant for highway traffic.
Eventually we did get on to
the national highway but not before getting stuck in another pile-up but this
time purely the creation of Google Maps who had led a whole legion of holiday
travellers into it through their smart phones. We got back just before midnight
though Google had promised that at the outside it would be just 8 p.m. Life was
much simpler in an age gone by when we would just trust our own instincts and the
reassuring physical landmarks to get our bearings. In any case if you got lost
you could always find a helpful shopkeeper or passer-by to put you back on the
right track. But there was fun and adventure even in getting lost as one discovered
the unexpected. These days the virtual world of the smart phones appear to be
more real than the real one around us.
