They say you don’t step in the same river twice. In Bengaluru, you don’t drive on the same road twice either. A trench may appear overnight; a cable buried or exhumed; a barricade erected by one civic agency, only to be dismantled by another. The onward journey rarely guarantees a return path. In such a city, GPS is less a convenience than a lifeline.
I use GPS extensively—so much so that I sometimes wonder if I could ever find my way back home without it. As a straightforward fellow, I am not adept at circuitous detours. That is why I feel reassured when Google tells me how to bypass hurdles. It even announces my arrival before my brain registers it. Sometimes I think Google knows me better than I know myself.
The Algorithmic Judge
But what if one day Google tells me, “You are not here,” when I am actually standing at my own gate? What if the map refuses to acknowledge my existence? Will Google have the final say on my being? The ancients asked, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?” Today, the modern version might be: “If Google Maps doesn’t mark me, am I really here?”
René Descartes reassured himself with cogito, ergo sum—I think, therefore I am. And I am still thinking, and therefore I must exist too. And that is reassuring.
Yet in our age, we outsource not only our sense of direction but also our sense of being to devices. Presence, however, is not a matter of coordinates. It is the awareness of standing where you stand, breathing the air around you, and knowing—without digital confirmation—that you are here. GPS may guide us through the world, but it cannot define our existence. Machines can measure location, but only consciousness can measure presence. To be here is not to be plotted on a map, but to be awake to the moment.
Beyond the Grid
In the meantime, right now, I am here. And that, in itself, is reassuring. The map may confirm it—or not—but the moment itself is enough. Perhaps one day the algorithm will deny me. But even then, I will stand, unplotted yet present, a dot beyond the grid.
4 responses to “Are You Here or Not?”
Descartes said “Dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum”. You doubt, therefore you think, therefore you are. Bangalore roads despite it’s trenches can elevate your existence to a higher level.
You are the first to discover me on this detour. Thanks for subscribing as well.
Great start!!!
Thanks sir!