Student Question
How does the narrator in A Long Way Home use Google Earth to find his home?
Quick answer:
The narrator uses Google Earth to find his home by initially searching for places in West Bengal that sounded like "Berampa," a reference he remembered. He struggled until he calculated the approximate 620-mile distance he traveled by train. This information allowed him to focus his search on a specific area. By tracing the train line from Howrah Station, he eventually recognized landmarks near his hometown, such as an overpass and water tower, leading to his discovery on March 31, 2011.
On page 148, the narrator says he didn't have any maps big enough to show the village where he was born. He thought about going to West Bengal and searching "on the ground" until it occurred to him that he could find the village from the comfort of his own home using Google Earth.
Deciding that "'Berampa' was the most solid reference I had," he started to search for places that sounded similar in the West Bengal area. He knew if he saw it, he would recognize it, and from there, he knew his village was just along the train tracks.
Initially, however, it proved too great a task. It is not until he realized that he could calculate how far he had traveled on the train that he began to make progress. Working out that he traveled about 620 miles, he narrowed his search to a territory covering 962,300 square kilometres. From there, he went to the station he arrived before leaving for Australia, Howrah Station, and started working his way down the train line, hoping he would recognize one of the landmarks. On March 31, 2011, he finally found what he was looking for: a small town with an overpass and water tower nearby.
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