It was Saturday night when my wife suggested that we should go out the next day. I knew a destination was in her mind. 

'How far is the OKHLA BIRD SANCTUARY?' She asked.

'Not very far,' I replied, 'You want to go there?'

She nodded and stamped on the venue for our Sunday outing.

We woke up to a chilly, Sun-less Christmas morning. The fog cover was defying the clock. Some urgent repairs after a late breakfast ensured that we could start only after the noon.

For a festive Sunday, it was unusually crowded and felt like the city was out to celebrate Christmas.

Getting around Delhi always makes for a hectic and crowded experience. Once on the NH-24, I asked my son to open GPS. Having lived almost all of my life in the city, I often boast of knowing every nook and corner of Delhi. However, I chose to trust the calm voice with a reassuring accent on the GPS as we were already too late to visit a bird sanctuary.

the Internet, anyway, has made us less confident.

From NH-24, I turned left towards Mayur Vihar and headed to NOIDA expressway. The GPS navigated us to traverse to the Mahamaya Flyover and go to the other side of the same road we had come.

Without doubt, I followed it. After about half a kilometer, it told me to turn left. I let out a shy of exasperation as there was no road, not even an artery, to turn left and only the chicken-pink stone wall of the great 'NOIDA DALIT PARK'. The elephants on the long stone staffs teased us. The sniggering emblems forced me not to halt.

I had a vague idea that the sanctuary was behind the park. As the car crawled forward and the GPS sensed its disobedience, ,the unapologetic voice prescribed, 'Go straight and take right after 1.5 kms...' Annoyed, I instructed my son to silence it.

I was fuming. You appreciate one-way roads, minus crossings only when you don't have to take a U- turn. But, when you are needlessly struck in a crawling fleet, you tend to lose your calm.

And, when stars don't favour you, even the GPS  can go haywire.

This time, relying on my instinct, from Mahamaya Flyover, I drove straight to go to the Okhla Barrage and, just before the Yamuna bridge, took a U-turn and halted in front of a huge iron gate diagonally painted in green and red, laden with instructions.

It was our destination, the 'Okhla Bid Sanctuary'.

'Winters- 7:00 am to 5:00 pm' said one of the many instruction notes on the gate.

'We've only three hours,' I said to my family and walked inside. A thirty rupees per person ticket seemed reasonable.

'You should have a car parking here,' I said to the ticket vendor who was sitting in the open