BLOG POST-12 NO-U-turns

 

                                                                           No U-turns

          Sometimes getting lost is just God's way of slowing you down.

        

                Has a 10-kilometre drive ever swallowed your entire evening whole?

    The other day, my friend invited us to her house for dinner. We're childhood buddies, so there was immense excitement for both of us. The drive from Indirapuram near the Delhi border to Preet Vihar should have been simple — just 10-12 kilometres. Accounting for Saturday evening traffic, we left at 6 pm, expecting to arrive by 6:45 pm. We proceeded confidently in our car, taking the four-lane road. The GPS showed my friend's location was only 20 minutes away. There were two routes we could take: the left road or the straight road we were on. The GPS directed us straight, so we drove ahead without hesitation. Then suddenly, everything changed. The GPS rerouted, and our estimated arrival time jumped from 20 minutes to 50 minutes. I was flabbergasted. We should have taken the left road — there was a U-turn below the flyover on that route. But we were committed to the straight path now, and surely there would be another U-turn ahead. To our amazement, there wasn't one.

                                                

    We passed landmark after landmark — no U-turn. We reached a fork and moved to the left lane, hoping to find an exit. Wrong move. We were now heading in the completely wrong direction instead of toward the T-point where we could have turned around. My excitement was fizzling out. My friend called to check our location. When we told her about our predicament, she was disheartened — she'd been eagerly waiting for us. The long stretch ahead offered no U-turns either. What started as a pleasant evening drive was becoming torture. The road forked again with two options ahead of us. My husband and I sat in tense silence. Our simple 20-minute journey was turning into a nightmare, compounded by heavy evening traffic.

    Just when we thought we'd have to drive indefinitely in the wrong direction, God took pity on us. We spotted a small opening where road construction had created a gap in the median. We seized the opportunity and finally made our U-turn. We looked at each other in relief.

    At that moment, I realized something: while four-lane and six-lane projects give our city a revamped look and create traffic-free expressways, not having U-turns within the city can be a harrowing experience. Modern infrastructure isn't always designed for the detours life throws at us.

    We headed towards Preet Vihar and navigated through congested interior lanes, potholes, and construction patches, finally arriving at 7:40 pm — nearly an hour late. But meeting my friend after five years gave me immense pleasure, and in no way did it diminish the joy of our reunion. If anything, the journey made it sweeter.

    Life, much like that GPS, can reroute us without warning. God tested our patience that day. I realized that he may have different plans or delays for things we think are under our control. This incident taught me to be patient when things don't go our way and to trust that the right turn will eventually appear — we just need to keep moving forward until we reach our desired destination.

 

What detour in your life turned out to be exactly the route you needed to take?