The countrywide lockdown expropriated many of our freedoms; under the minatory frown of the state, the external world was packed away into digital realms; our manacled selves (and souls) were to be restored to an earlier state at the pleasure of authorities. Unlock 1.0, therefore, came with new uncertainties, apprehension, and hopes. One overwhelming desire among the citizenry was the innate need to step out—and not only to such pleasant baubles like malls, theatres and other public places, but through physical displacement through a landscape to another place. As if to dispel the taint of two months of confinement one needed an exuberant gesture, an escape from one’s immediate environment.
“I want a breakout from the house, and this town,” sighs Roshan Singh, a Gurugram-based financial advisor with two children. The months of internment, he confesses, has drained his energy. Roshan realises that these are unusual times, but is tormented by an irresistible yearn to travel. No, not a grand wanderlust, but answering the call of the open...
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