The reason Indians are lost

A WOMAN TAKES her husband to a psychiatrist. “He’s repeated our address so often he’s lost his mind,” she tells the doctor, as the man mumbles “A-42 Bhanushali Apartments…” So starts an advertisement for an app that promises to turn a “long, complex address” into something usable. Four years and millions of YouTube views later the problem persists. The huge growth of online shopping means that many urban Indians are repeating directions several times a day, often twice or three times per delivery.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “You are… somewhere”