GPS in India…

I called one of my friends in US and asked him to mail (of course, e-mail. Is the snail mail still in vogue?) his address of communication. I wanted to send him a birthday gift.

"You don't need to wait for my email… here it is
2116 lakeview dr,
Parlin, NJ - 08859
That is it!!!"
(I am not sure who stays there now…!!!)

"What? That is it… only two lines? Are you sure that you will receive your gift with just these two lines?"

"Yes. This is where I stay and I receive everything on time"
"Most of the addresses here are only two lines dude… go to Google maps and just give this address, you can see the place where I stay"

"Ok. I will be sending your birthday gift to this address… don't forget to collect it", I hung up.

I immediately opened Google maps and gave the address… Woww… I saw the place where he lives. Such a big country… and such a small address… and you receive every thing (at least most of the things) intact and in time?

Let me tell you my friend's address in India. His permanent address is
Door no: 22-696/A/5,
2nd Floor, Opp Tesla Bulb factory,
Rajaji Nagar,
C.K. Palle post,
Chittoor - 517127

It is some detail, but he seldom receives mails. At times he receives them late, very late. What if I type this address in Google Maps? I tried and I saw an error message "Your search for blah.. blah.. blah around this map area did not match any locations."

I heard people in US use GPS while going out to new locations. They just feed the address and the navigator takes you precisely to the location without any hassle. It is that easy. I tried going to my friend's home in India. I reached Chittoor and called him

"Hey.. I am at Chittoor bus-stand. How can I come to your home?"
"Get into auto and ask him to drop you at Rajaji Nagar. I will wait for you at the stop" said my friend.
"Don't wait for me dude… I will come to your home. Just tell me the address" I asked.
"It is tough to find my home here. Just do as I said. Come to the stop and I will be there waiting for you" said my friend.

Well I got down at Rajaji Nagar and met my friend. He took me across the streets. I was looking at the door numbers 22-696, 22-696/A, 22-696/A/5, 22-696/D,… so.. on (few didn't even have one). I couldn't find any sequence in numbering. Then I understood why my friend told me it is tough to find his house.

What if GPS is to be introduced in India? God… it will be a damn complicated project. Don't know who can design the database to store the addresses of this kind. No idea when can Google come up with India maps too. Thinking about the complexity of the algorithm in finding the shortest path from one place to another place in India… keep thinking…