I LOVE the idea of easily available information on the Internet. I love it even more when I am able to appreciate how far one has come to reach that point. And it just so happens that my country India is ripe for that transition, from spreading information through word of mouth to getting it all on a quick Google search.
To be clear, India has already come a long way when it comes to computer literacy. It’s a common joke around the world about how all the “computer jobs” are outsourced to India. But that’s not what I am talking about. India gained its reputation as the home of outsourced IT jobs since 2000 while neglecting the importance of bringing the Internet into the hands of every child and old person. It’s still not a common thought among most parents and grandparents that anytime they want some information they can just check their smartphones rather than asking the neighbour or the maid.
This is partly because a lot of information is still NOT available online in India. Forget small businesses, even a few established businesses (like the company I work for that caters to customers all around the world) do not have a strong online presence. This has been bugging me for a while, especially when I as a web developer randomly searched for APIs for publicly available information in the United States. It shocked me that the government website has a separate page just for developers. I yearn to change this. I yearn to create APIs and websites with freely available information for the general Indian public.
On a lighter note, this is where my love interest with Google Maps comes in. This application for the Connect Live event has made me realise that I can share useful or interesting information here too. It certainly has the appeal of trust and a massive audience. Starting with this very post, I’m going to start creating many lists and posts for the amalgamation of information that I think would be of interest to various groups of people in India. For example, I had no idea at all that there were dog-themed restaurants in India until just a year ago! And if I, a millenial Indian, had no idea then there would be many others too who might not know this. So I created my first public list for doggy restaurants in South India 
I am planning my next list already - restaurants that serve exclusively healthy food in Chennai.
Whether I get selected for Connect Live 2019 or not - Thank You Google Maps! You have helped me move closer to my dream of a digital, information abundant India.