Mapping success

Sat, Sep 22 01:05 AM

At 22, when most people are still wondering what career to choose, Rohan Verma takes pride in showing others 'the right direction.' No, he's not a career counsellor, nor in the traffic department.

Instead this tech geek, who heads the MapmyIndia.com division of CE Info Systems, has created a handheld navigation device.

"Based on the sophisticated Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, it pinpoints your exact location, anywhere in India - be it some place in Delhi or some remote village of the country. Now you don't have to stop and ask strangers for directions, it's helpful especially for women," says Verma, a former student of DPS, Vasant Kunj.

Little did he realise that his accidental entry into the field would end up becoming his obsession. Verma is the brain behind mapmyIndia.

com, which he created in the summer of 2004. "After completing my first year of college at Stanford dad asked me to work on it, while I was waiting for my internship.

And once I began I just got hooked to it." At Stanford, Rohan received the President's Award for Academic Excellence, and was also awarded Best Work Study Student by the University Registrar in 2004.

But like any other 22-year-old, he's not untouched by the 'have-it-flaunt-it' bug and of course Harry Potter. "I flaunt my new-found love - my navigator all the time.

Besides showing directions it can also play music, movies, and pictures." It comes for Rs 21,000.

And while he doesn't disclose his salary, he doesn't mind sharing that he's investing in his own apartment, under the supervision of his mom, of course. This Delhi lad enjoys dancing, and has performed widely in Delhi and in the US with Stanford's Hindi film dance team.

What next? "A big bash.

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