Long awaited travel

With every passing day, the desire to go out there and do the journey through the heart of India's small and big towns is growing stronger. Partially because of the long cherished desire to undertake this journey and more recently because of Pankaj Mishra.

I had never thought that a random browsing of a bookstore on a cold dusty afternoon in Delhi would lead me to Butter Chicken in Ludhiana, which by far is the closest tangible write up that I have come across to what I have been wanting to do all these years. I of course had not thought of spending certain days into some of the cities en route, but most other aspects are similar to my thoughts, most importantly a dekko into the small towns of India, the very foundation of our country.

I can literally visualise myself on this journey already, in the Himsagar Express or Kerela Express, whizzing past the hinterlands of state capitals, noticing the changing landscape, language, food, architecture, weather and what do you know even the colour of the soil. I can see myself armed with a camera, my writing book and limited baggage embarking on this journey with nothing else on my mind, but just the desire to absorb as much as I can from this cross country travel.

Capturing images of the travel, train, landscape, cuisine and myself in the midst of it all, with the satisfaction of having completed this journey at last. It is a vision which I am living everyday, with a desire to actually live it one day