It all started when my phone received a notification from Google Maps prompting me to share my experiences and photos to help others by posting these in public on Google Maps. I had just then returned from a trip of a nearby hill station and had happily clicked lots of pictures of very scenic spots. So the idea of sharing my beautiful pictures gave a boost to my self esteem and so I decided to pay heed to the prompt.
Soon after I shared the pictures, G Maps introduced me to the idea of being a “local guide” and help other travellers by sharing my knowledge of the place. Some more ego boost there!! Yes, I have gained quite some local knowledge of the place and to share these with others will make me a ‘hero’!!
I am a pure vegetarian - so orthodox that wherever I visit, I always snoop around and find a south Indian Vegetarian restaurant in that place. This gives me a unique advantage, in that I can share some unique information to like minded future visitors.
Being a Google Maps Local Guide made me capture the menu cards and price lists at all these places on my camera and share them on my google account.
Thus your will find from my posts that I share lots of ‘idlis’, ‘dosas’ and ‘vadais’ with my viewers!! (Though I cannot share the actual stuff with them, sharing at least their pictures gives me lot of satisfaction!!
South Indian temples open and close - not according to the human time tables - but on the divine time tables, when the Lord inside decides to sleep, eat or show himself off! So I love sharing the temple timings on the google maps platform so that a future visitor shall not be disappointed by not gaining an appointment with the Lord, when he visits the temple.
Thus these are two main areas where my contribution as a Google Local Guide have gained me points and taken me up the ladder of honours and badges!