Tech-Holes in Urban Sprawl
- Arvind Nandan
- Nov 25, 2017
- 5 min read
What all does an uninitiated visitor check while stepping into a previously unknown but well-established city? Availability of hotels? Availability of Ola-Uberised public transport? If not these modes of transport, at least the availability of other means of public transport? Implicit in these is perhaps an assumption of availability of internet services (net-connection, as they are called).
Well, there needs to be another line of inquiry, as I discovered on my recent trip to one of the main urban centres in north India. The trip was to attend a family event, not a tourist visit. A good four-dozen relatives camping together. My hotel was on the outer limits of the city. As is my wont, on such visits, I take the first opportunity to check with the concierge about places to visit and catch a glimpse of city-life. I was told about the busiest market of the city, and was ready to go in a minute. A taxi was easily the best way to get there, so I booked one from my phone-app.
As I landed in the market after a 30-minute drive, my first suspicion began taking shape. The cab driver alerted me that I was perhaps wrong in booking a one-way trip. A round-trip booking with 'taxi-on-wait' would have been the right call. The reason: It was hard to book a taxi for return, since this was a cantonment area where internet was extremely troublesome. A live forewarning - a demonstration of his advice - came in the form of struggle to end the trip on driver's mobile device.
It took him a whole five minutes: internet was worse than crawl.
Overconfidence, trust in the presence of technology, or a bit of exploratory mood, allowed me the luxury of thanking him for his warning, but with a bit of brush: "Will manage, I am no novice at travels".
An hour later, done with my market-exploration, I wanted to get back to the hotel - 15-km away. It was then that the monstrosity of lack-of-service gripped me. Initial few attempts to open the phone-app were met with 'Sorry, cannot reach the server'. May be, the signal was too weak around this corner... I needed to try another corner of the market - after all, I was in the central part of the city. A few steps later, the result was unchanged. A kilometre of walk, yet another corner, and then another... no results.
By this time the phone-battery was down to less than half! More trouble started looming as daylight fell at an increasing speed. What next? Surely there had to be another way: a local transport - an autorickshaw, a local taxi, perhaps a bus... something...
It is almost impossible to imagine that there would be tech-shadow areas inside a vibrant urban centre. At the heart of a large stretch of prime market district.
A shopkeeper of an international branded apparel, the usual guide when lost, advised that there would be no hire-cabs at this place, though I was welcome to use his shop's wi-fi and try my luck. The best way, according to him, was to take a rickshaw to a particular corner of the city, board an intercity bus from there, and then finally get another rickshaw to drop me to the hotel. That would be a total of 90-minutes of travel. There was no public transport that people used there. Most people had their own scooters, motorbikes, cycles or cars - no one needed taxis, or autorickshaws. So none was to be thought of... You will not find any public transport.
I was beginning to feel desperate by now. It is not very advisable to rely on unregistered rickshaw-pullers (or anyone) in an entirely unknown place, who can easily fathom one's lack of familiarity with the city or its directions. However, if that was the only chance of getting home, I would have to rely on it. Just that I would need to appear fit in the local context, not a lost tourist.
Else, I would have to call my hotel, or some relative there, and ask them to send a pick-up. In a more dire situation, someone would have to hire a taxi on round-trip and fetch me.
As my final call before attempting the aforesaid solution, I decided to walk back a couple of kilometres to exactly the same spot where I had arrived 2 hours ago. At least, the cab-driver had closed his trip there, albeit with much difficulty. There must be a trickle of internet there. One last try for a cab-service. Dusk was in full-glory by now, and steadily slithering towards the hollow of darkness.
I stood at exactly the same spot and drew the phone out of my pocket... barely 35% battery! Swiftly, I opened the taxi-app and hoped for some connection. After about a minute of searching, the phone made the connection! It was pure relief. The driver's name and contact details flashed. Without even half a second of delay, I called the driver instructing him to reach the exact place where I was. Preserving battery was crucial. He arrived in ten minutes and I was finally on my way....! A full 5 kilometres later, internet service came alive on my phone... I was a couple of kilometres outside the market limits by this time. Less than 30-minutes of drive and I was in the hotel lobby.
My lessons were multifold. Make sure:
You book a full round-trip, not a one-way drop when in unknown places. Urban centre or tech-enablement understanding can be flawed.
You carry a fully-charged phone, as well as a battery back-up or a fully-charged power-bank. Battery dies fast when you are trying to connect with an evasive internet.
You enquire with concierge in detail about the return trip. The concierge might be interested in explaining the city, but make sure your own interest is in finding about details of the return trip.
You avoid late-afternoon or evening hours for exploring. Early part of the day will provide better decision-making buffers.
You keep unregistered local transport as your last-after-the-last option. Keep exploring other possibilities.
You get back to the point where internet last worked. There is always a little chance that it might connect again at that point.
You do not lose nerve. If the worse option of taking uncertain transport needs to be exercised, appear as fit as possible, not a panicked & lost visitor.
Before you exhausted your battery, call the hotel, or other known people (if any) and inform them about your location. Ask them to send a pick-up (I would have exercised this option, had my last attempt to connect failed). Park yourself in the most crowded part of the precinct - not in a forlorn corner. Be safe - gender and age do not matter.
Finally, a small advice for the authorities, the policy-makers, and service-providers: Please do have a look at these terrible tech-shadow areas. Every city will have first-time visitors. You and only you can make them feel at home and wanting to return.
And, the biggest thank-you to the two taxi-drivers: The first, for the warning; and the second, for arriving timely without causing any further damage.
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