Technology can help but a sense of direction is vital
I had an “eventful” start to the new year. A day after we rang in the new year, I was taken for a ride.
No, I wasn’t conned by anyone.
To put it in simple words, I took myself for a ride.
Still not clear? Well, I took a Didi cab to reach a restaurant in Beijing, which was a few minutes’ walk, or about 500 meters away, for two reasons: ignorance, and I was technologically challenged.
Let me explain. A new year lunch was planned by my colleagues at an Italian restaurant down the road.
I had received on WeChat the location map of the place well in advance from a colleague.
I clicked on the map, and another icon that resembled a compass. The needle turned a little to the right and a little to the left, and I couldn’t make any sense of it.
That was the “turning point”. I decided to do the next best thing: ask. I texted as well as called another colleague to ask for directions. There was no response.
Time was running out, and I was getting restless. I called another colleague, but drew a blank. He didn’t know where the restaurant was located.
I decided to leave early and was about to take the elevator down when I bumped into another colleague. He didn’t know the place either.
He suggested that I take a cab since the weather was harsh, a condition not ideal for a long walk. A valid point, though.
Besides, when we book a Didi, we would know how much to pay, from which we can gauge the approximate distance.
The colleague accompanied me up to the apartment gate, waiting till the cab came to pick me up.
As I hopped onto the cab and was adjusting the seat belt, the driver gave a weird look and said something in Chinese, which I could not understand. I just nodded, as if to convey I understood him.
“OK,” he said, and drove on, joining the main road (about 100 meters), crossing the signal, and after a few hundred meters, he brought the vehicle to a halt.
“It’s so near,” I told myself, as I got off the car and started walking toward the pavement.
I hadn’t found the restaurant yet. I walked a few meters, but since I couldn’t find it, I asked a few passersby. One of them walked me for 15 meters and pointed at the restaurant, whose name was written in big, bold letters at the entrance.
As I walked in, I found my colleagues had already arrived. They were amused when I recounted my story. Obviously.
The party was good, so was the food. The restaurant was another addition to a short lineup of restaurants for a vegetarian to visit and relish.
The return walk took about 12 minutes. And no sweat.
Besides, I didn’t have to spend 15 yuan ($2.2) (that was the amount I spent for the onward journey) for a short ride.
Moral of the story: there is no age limit to learning.
On the other hand, too much reliance on technology, or blindly following technology, can also be counterproductive.
Take, for example, the truck that got stuck between two buildings in a county in the United Kingdom a few years ago. Such incidents have increased of late.
The driver, who was not familiar with the area, blindly followed his sat-nav, a satellite navigation system, instead of his sense of sight, and landed in this peculiar situation.
Now, it’s illegal to hold a phone or sat-nav while driving or riding a motorcycle in the UK.