Midday Musings

It was time to go to India and that meant I was on a shopping spree. I wasn’t driving at the time which meant I was dependent on Santa (husband). One fine morning I decided to hit the road alone, using the public transport service the VTA provided. I ‘googled’ the Mountain View address of Bed Bath & Beyond. Noting down the directions given by Google maps on a post-it, I went out after Santa left for office. Walking for a mile to the bus stop, I saw the bus whoosh right before my eyes, as I struggled to reach the stop. It was 20 minutes before the next bus arrived.

Usually I ask the driver about the destination before boarding the bus. But this time I was so confident I didn’t bother to ask him, neither did I tell him to inform me when my stop came. I thought the PA system was good enough. The address was one of Charleston Road. Sitting inside the bus I saw the bus whiz past Charleston Road without stopping. So I got down at the next stop which was Amphitheatre Parkway.

After getting down it seemed to be a deserted land at first. I took a right at Amphitheatre Parkway and walked down the sidewalk. The Google HQ extended on my right as far as I could see. I walked till the end of the road and hit Shoreline Boulevard. Took a right at Shoreline and kept walking when I realized that if I kept walking through Shoreline I would reach home, except for the fact that it was not walkable because the entrance to freeway 101 did not leave any space for pedestrians. So I turned back and retraced my steps. Everywhere I looked, I saw the glass buildings of Google. I walked up and down the road quite a number of times. Lunch time was getting over as I saw people filing back into their office with coffee cups and take away boxes in hand.

I entered all the roads I could enter only to be stopped by a sign saying 'Dead End' or 'No Thru Road'. I even asked two passersby where Charleston Road or Bed Bath and Beyond would be. None of them seemed to have any clue. I took the next bus home and as the bus crossed 101 I could see Bed Bath & Beyond from the bus but couldn’t figure out a way to reach it. All this happened without Santa’s knowledge.

The next morning I googled Bed Bath & Beyond again. It showed the same route so I asked Santa and he pointed out that the directions were wrong. For once I follow the map correctly and end up in the wrong place. Now that’s what I call being 'googlied by Google'!