December 2020


Radhe Bhayya, who must be in his 60s, took a train to Banaras with his family to visit his relatives. Like every year, his family prepared loads of mutter kachori to eat during their long train journey along with other meals. He even offered a few kachoris to us. He booked a 2 AC ticket to avoid the rush of sleeper coaches. He mentioned that he would have taken the flight if it wasn’t for the limitation on the quantity and the kind of luggage that one can carry.

The surroundings we are placed in have a very interesting hand in how we experience things we engage with. More so during the lockdown where inside was the only option. The “active interaction” that would otherwise be outside is elevated by the senses. But, this “passive interaction” (brought about by the lockdown) of virtual travel is a stimulating one overlapped by an almost contradicting environment. One is pushed to imagine what it would be like if they were someplace else in this case Bali while in the setting of starkly different sounds smells, mediums, and interruptions. This virtual graph codes routines, activities, excitements, disappointments, an inner turmoil of being there and not being there.


The subconscious mind produces such absurdities and thoughtful wonders of things we scroll through and think about throughout the day. Little do we understand these absurdities and mysterious connections our mind builds.


This is an itinerary that talks about the setup and the objects that surrounded me while my “virtual travel’ experience and the different ways my body tended to occupy space. Most often lazily, the bed was my only seat of travel throughout the journey.