I’m grateful

Well, after a long time I found something to express. Although it has happened almost a month back, I would love to share it with you.

It was just another day, and after a lot of Indian Railways booking drama, my sister was coming back to Kolkata. She got down at Howrah station in late afternoon and my father picked her up and booked a prepaid taxi to avoid the queue. And as usual our fellow taxi driver demanded some extra money as soon as they approached home. But, in that bargaining my tired sister forgot her beloved Android phone in the taxi.

Soon she realized and started to panic frantically, by the time I called up from Chennai to know her well being. Her phone had been ringed several times, but nobody seemed to pick up. Then, the technology helped, for which I am writing this piece. I remembered how we once found each other in Marine drive, Mumbai when we didn’t come in sync. It’s the one who came to rescue us, the Google Latitude.

So, the journey began. The thoroughly followed journey of the taxi driver, using 2G network. I started tracking her phone from my Lab computer and I found he just crossed somewhere near Park Circus. My sister and father had already explained how important the phone was and how sensitive information it contained to the traffic guard police. They rushed to the Haridevpur police station. Meanwhile, I could not see the location for quite 40 mins. Then I suddenly saw the pointer at Kakurgachi and  it was there in Kakurgachi for sometime. As I was continuously updating my sister, she planned to go to Kakurgachi quickly. But then, you know, it was nonsensical to chase around a taxi taking rounds of busy Kolkata. When they were about to start for Kakurgachi, ah! it too started moving on the map and we realized it was going towards Howrah. Of-course!, the driver had to get his payment for the trip from the prepaid counter at Howrah. Oh, Barobazar it had reached. And then came the coolest part, it was traveling over the Ganges, the pointer was dangling on blue water tagged as Ganga on the Google map. But why not the great Howrah bridge, why it was hovering on Ganga! Panic loomed. I did even think of possibilities like, somebody might have taken the phone from the  back seat of taxi and crossing the Ganga by Ferry! But no! sigh! It reached Howrah station in few minutes. By this time, my sister already spoke to the prepaid taxi counter person over phone and one of her friend was driving them to Howrah. Well, finally she got her phone back.

Later it was revealed, that the driver kept the phone securely in his pocket and  Kakurgachi was his home where he was resting in between.
Trust me, it was really a thrilling experience to track something you lost in real time. And that to you see it just running around Kolkata and you are not able to catch it, while it may die any time. So, here goes my respect for Google Latitude. It was tremendously useful which I never realized before.

Note: Google Latitude has retired since 9th Aug. Google issued a notice to it’s users saying it is retiring and all the data on Latitude will be deleted. But they will have something similar in Hangout.