Can you imagine the frustration an immigrant feels when suddenly he is lost in a world of all new intersections, crescents and boulevards? .Funny things happen when you don’t know the location and you plan your trip. Any trip planner would tell you from which bus stop you are supposed to begin and where to end. Well! The first one is the not a big deal. We all manage to reach the bus stop from where commutation begins. But as soon as the journey starts, your heart starts pounding,”Am I there yet? “Am I there yet? .Some transit buses display the stop name and your problem is solved for the day but when there is no display and when there is no audio assistance either. You will feel like standing in a maze. After bus stop number 0147 your bus will turn left and to your horror you will find stop number 2000 just around the corner .Your mouth will turn dry ,your head banging .But, But! Where is bus stop number 0190, it’s supposed to be in the natural sequence isn’t? You will try to run inside a running bus, just to disturb the decent bus driver; “Excuse me! Do you know where is bus stop number 0190, I’m new here!” .So if you are new here, what difference would it make if the driver even tells you where is stop 0190, you have never been to the place remember? Some times déjàvu occurs and your bus stop is found without any problem. Otherwise ,whenever you see two frightening eyes ,clenched fists and a troubled face almost stamped on the transit window, staring outside as if his either memory or eye sight has just recovered .You may stay assured that the poor guy is a new immigrant.
There are maps off course; they are to guide you the way. But if you are confused already, you will face the biggest enigma of your life, paper map doesn’t say “you are here” .First you have to find where you are standing at the moment. Sometimes bus stop number hides behind an arrogant tree branch and your world is doomed for the day .You will roam here and there, praying, wishing that your destination will appear miraculously. People and bystanders try to help you but your amazement will reach no bound when you realize that so many people living in the same area aren’t familiar with the street name or bus stop number that happens to exist in the same block. With the passage of time you will understand the reason, life is so busy here, when you get a car ,you don’t need bus for commutation any more ,then you don’t remember places with bus stops and address, you follow your routine for life .Home ,job ,mall, friends, kids school etc. At that time in your life, if somebody jumps in front of you out of nowhere and asks you with tears in his eyes, “Excuse me! Do you know where bus stop 1234 is? , I am sure you will also say that you don’t know.
Then how will you find your way? You have three options. Besides common sense, either you spend extra fare and keep a friend with you as a guide or you get your GPS system. Black berry is fun but normally you wouldn’t want to use it until you get a good job. So if you have either, common sense, human assistance or GPS, you will reach your destination hassle free. As much as human error is common, so is technical one. One of my relative and his family set off for OHIP card facilitation centre. Lost in the beauty of Canadian summer as well as unfamiliar routes, they were truly relying on GPS. How philosophical it was that their car just happened to stop in front of a cemetery and shrill female voice of GPS announced: You have reached your destination! .Indeed. That’s where everybody reaches his destination in the end. Speaking of a trip to OHIP facility vs. cemetery was an ironical co incidence. But that’s not enough.I have even seen a miserable GPS who constantly announced; “you have reached your destination” in middle of Highway 401.In Canada, reaching a place is a not an issue, reaching a place in time is important. You might miss a wonderful job opportunity just going through jigsaws of maps .The best thing is to visit the place one day before your interview so that you can reach there in time on the following day. Sometimes you just need to follow your heart and you will reach your destination. It’s not that roads and addresses are difficult here .It’s just that our mind takes its time in order to get accustomed to new routes and numbers. I got lost almost three times in the beginning, but then I realized that the routes were simple, it was my state of mind that was making them complicated .Once ,I started to feel easy with the new place. Everything became easy.Every day,you will see some new faces on the roads and in transits,totally lost and breathless ! looking at everything ,as if they have seen it for the first time.Yep ! This is their first time :) welcome to Canada !
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