Why do I lose my way almost every time I take my car for a spin

Suresh Nair
Jul 28, 2017 · 5 min read

As I turn left from the signal, I move ahead and encounter a fork. Should I take the left and turn on the second right? Or should I take the right and take the second left? Help, I am lost.

To make it worse, this is not the first time I am coming to this place. After some aimless driving, I eventually discover that I had strayed quite far from my intended destination. I have this weakness. I am unable to follow simple directions to reach a place. If I drive a certain route in one direction, it is next to impossible to drive back the same way even if I have started just after I have reached the place.

I am not talking about complicated instructions such as take a U turn at the first signal, keep right, turn left at the first crossing and keep going till the third signal turns green. No, I have pulled over the road while a patient gentleman explained ‘Take the first left turn and it is the fourth building on the right’. I double check to make sure and still manage to get lost.

I have to take a left from behind a particular flyover to reach the airport. In spite of taking the route several times, I find myself on top of the flyover speeding away from the airport and then taking a U turn much ahead. And, yes, I am an exception to the rule that states that whatever happens, a man will not ask for directions. I will ask for help from a motor cyclist, move a little ahead, and shock a casual pedestrian daydreamer to find out the exact location of the famous mall. A few minutes later, I will consult the local shopkeeper and then, further on, trouble a senior citizen. My wife may be the only one who complains that her man asks directions too many times and wish that he would just keep quiet and drive to the destination.

My anxiety doesn’t end with reaching the place. After the meeting, I step out on the road, trying to recall as to where I had parked the car. Was it towards the north, in this lane or the other one?

It is not just reaching places that baffle me. Geography has been my weak subject right from school days. I always wondered as to how on earth the earth can be round. As it rotates, people on the top should fall down in a heap. In spite of having a wonderful geography teacher, I could never understand lithosphere, biosphere, latitudes, longitudes, differences between peninsula and isthmuses. My eyes used to bulge when the teacher explained that instead of being a true sphere, the earth is actually flattened near the poles and slightly bulging near the equator.

Technology has somewhat simplified my life. It took quite some time and plenty of explanations from my friend to understand Google maps. Armed with the new knowledge, I ventured out to a familiar place close by almost checking whether I can rely on Google maps to take me to any place.

Photo by Francis Bijl https://www.flickr.com/photos/frenkieb/325173447/

The successful experiment emboldened me to set out further but not without adequate precautions. I had a friend sitting next to me and another behind. I would continually pester them asking for navigational instructions. While they would have ideally wanted to just relax and enjoy the ride, I would keep on asking, “Do I turn left?” and soon after, “What do I do now?”. There was one instance when one of them said ‘left’ and simultaneously, the other one said ‘right’. Precisely for such an eventuality, unknown to them, I had kept Google map open below the dashboard.

It was a little comforting to read that there is a club for people like me, the directionally challenged. The members are those who don’t have the faintest idea as to where they are heading. Some of the characteristics of members are that they wish they had a personal guide whenever traveling and also even if the destination is close by, they have to start at least an hour early to make provision for getting lost and then finding their way. It really hurts if someone asks a member, “Can you help me find this place?”

The members also trust any stranger more than themselves or GPS. They need people to explain directions slowly, as if to a child. If someone rushes with their directions, their faces go blank and they simply stare at the now confused stranger.

Recently, I had to go to a place located just 10 kms from my house and off a busy highway. Lesser mortals would have just driven down and asked directions as they went along. However, I had to be absolutely sure about all the twists and turns before I started my car.

I opened both Google earth and Wikimapia and began the arduous task of first locating my area on the map and then, slowly tracing the way towards the highway. I was thrilled when I discovered that the venue could be easily reached by taking a right turn after a flyover. I went on the same path several times on both the maps just to make sure.

When I was fairly convinced, I called up a friend to double check asking her to open the maps and help me locate the venue. Within minutes, she called back and gave me the directions. There was one hitch. While she told me to take a left turn just before the flyover, my analysis showed that I had to take the right turn just after the flyover. We exchanged notes to ensure that we were on the same flyover and even the same highway. There, I was again stuck even before starting the journey.

While she silently cursed me for being such an idiot, I decided to sleep over it while my brain processed the contradictory information. As expected, the eureka moment came the next morning in the middle of a shave. While I had approached the flyover from one end of the expressway, on her screen, she was moving towards the flyover from the opposite end. Elementary, my dear friend.

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Suresh Nair

Written by

Freelance Writer Editor Book Lover. Passionate about reading, inculcating gratitude, deep listening, mindfulness, relationships, amateur photographer and cook.

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