“The way to go is shown to you!
Then another way comes which is new!
The rerouting is your speed affair!
But it’s possible not in land but in the air!”
So you are driving in your own leisurely pace in some street in Bangalore and you have put Google maps on! Then suddenly it gives you a notification that a better faster route is available!
Did you know that a similar shortcut created years ago is used all over the world! In fact the original time taken of that route was around 22 days which this shortcut reduced to 10 hours! Now that is a Google recommendation I will definitely take!
read on!
Most of the time people normally jump on the offer and then when everyone behind you or in front of you take the same offer, the short cut becomes crowded and more slower than the original route!
Of course whatever route you take in many such cities, the fate will be the same!
Once I was going after a bad rain to my work place which had a side short cut! Unluckily that works only if you have a two wheeler! You may advice that you must start early but then that was an emergency time and I just had to reach as early as possible!
After waiting for fifteen minutes in the same place without a single mm movement I gently indicated to the red Santro behind me to move back and I slowly turned and went back home to get my bike! It took me around ten minutes to reach home and get the Bike and as I was cruising faster than the car on the short cut, I saw the same car who had allowed me to reverse in the same place! The look on the guy’s face on seeing me is the look you would get on every other driver in Bangalore!
How you take an auto most of the time in Bangalore only because Namma Auto driver knows the most deepest and most secret shortcuts available in the street!
Many times even Google will confuse you so much about the shorter route that I am hesitant nowadays to take it! Once I took on an alternate route while going into a party in some remote corner of some Nagar when Google finally pointed to a small road for my car to cross and in between the road there was a small bridge which was big enough only for maybe a small auto!
I was very skeptical and it was late night so I was thinking maybe Google was sleepy! I would have gone anyway when suddenly I saw that the time taken to cross just a few Km was shown in hours! Now of course since it is Bangalore that is not surprising but it was late night and that time you do not expect any traffic for such crazy time estimate! Which is when I realized that I had kept the Map in “Walk” mode! When switched it to ‘Car’ mode it finally did a U turn and showed me the proper big road!
If I had not done that Google would have made me swim with the car!
This is why always make sure that I put the Maps only in Car mode!
So coming to this short cut which many people take! It is not on the road which is why such a clean short cut is possible! It is on water!
Some time back when this short cut was blocked it was a big disaster! So many ships were stranded and so many days and time lost! Yes!
It is the Panama Canal!
Now, everyone knows that the United States of America built the Panama Canal under president Theodore Roosevelt, but very few know that the French started the work. It was Mr. Ferdinand de Lesseps, a French diplomat who began the work in 1881. It was completed on 15 August 1914, two years before the target year of 1916!
Panama Canal has reduced the sailing distance from the Atlantic to the Pacific by a vast 8000 nautical miles. If we sail with an average speed of about say 15 knots, then it will be 22 long days! On the contrary, crossing the Panama Canal takes around 8 to 10 hours. The toll? Well, a typical IMO type III chemical tanker of around 50,000 DWT pays around USD 135,000 in toll! The smallest toll was paid by Mr. Richard Halliburton in the year 1928 of USD 0.36 for swimming across the canal! There’s also a proposal to build a competition Nicaragua canal but for now Pannama canal is no 1!
Of course for now the best thing which has happened is the automatic toll deduction in car! The waiting time is so short but of course it is big dent on the account! Maybe next time get a Robot or Enthiran for the shorter route but for now its Google Maps!
Speaking about Robot reminds me of Birthday celebrity Shankar Shanmugam!
Now try to get the shortest route to your bed and sleep!
Shubh Ratri!
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