The sun rises in the.. West..sorry.. East!

Q) Where might one need a compass? Your options are:
a> In a desert,
b> In a jungle,
c> On sea,
d> In a city they've lived in for more than 6 years,
e> a,b,c
f> a,b,c,d.


If you have a decent IQ, I'm guessing you'd have picked e. I pick f. No, it hasn't got anything to do my IQ(which is pretty decent btw. In case you're not convinced, read all my entries from start to end. Or not.), but the simple fact is that I'm as lost in a jungle as I'm in this city where I've spent years together.

A few examples-
I still do not know all the roads by heart. Forget the places I've never visited, or visted relatively less number or times, I'm talking about the roads on which I've commuted for more than a ..umm.. 1000 times at aleast? Drop me at some junction which is just a few minutes walk from where I shopped/hung out with friends for years, and I wouldn't know if I should take an auto or walk down. I'm not exaggerating, this exact same thing happened to me yesterday.

How about my sense of direction in general? Poorer than this. I have to always go 'East-West-North-South' to determine South if you asked me. My brain cannot process the fact that South is always behind my back, no matter where I face. You tell me once where the sea is, and then turn me around and make me face some other direction and then ask me the same question. Chances are, I'll give a wrong answer.

I can never tell which side, right or left, will the station be when I get down the train I've taken all these years when I go home. Agreed, I go home after long gaps, but any dummy would know his right from his left in around 6 years I believe.

To most people this comes as naturally as knowing A is first alphabet and Z is the last, and there are quite a few people I know who seem to have inbuilt compasses in their heads- "Oh, I think we'll just take the first two lefts, then a right, and yet another left and then 200 m down the road, on the right hand side, is the house of our best friend where we've partied everyweekend for the past one year." Of course.

It's not something to joke about , though, it can be a big pain. I'm always clueless about where I'm heading if left on my own. I can never remember the paths, have to rely on the rick-drivers to take me to my destination.. I have do not know which side will be the platform, even when it's the same station I've always boarded my train from for years.

Oh what the hell, I'd rather pay the rickshaw-walla a couple of more tenners for taking me the longer way rather than trust my instinct and take that short-cut which I've take a million times before with friends.