Column N. Raghuraman – What does your city look like when you walk? , N. Raghuraman’s column: What does your city look like when you walk? Achi-News

N. Raghuraman, Managing Guru

Very few documentaries can give us the perspective of being present in the moment like ‘Y Byd Cyn Eich Traed’. Jeremy Workman’s simple but compelling documentary follows protagonist Matt Green on a personal journey to walk the streets of New York.

The camera follows Green. When they stop, the camera stops, when they see something, the camera sees the same and reveals their story and past through their journey and interactions with those they meet. If the film has any structure, it is as it was in Green’s mind.

He is less interested in showing the big picture or pointing out anything like a suspense film, but in exploring the city by walking patiently through many places, stopping and slowing his pace to see it from the perspective of a person Who has only interested in opening the viewers’ eyes to things happening around them, which they usually ignore even though they are present on that street.

He started this walking project in his city in 2010 and by the time this film was released in 2018, he had covered a distance of only five hundred kilometers. At one point in the film, Green says, My goal is not to complete my walk as fast as possible, but to continue doing everything that comes in the way.

During a talk at a school, Green tells children that walking is a great way to get somewhere as well as moving. You move slowly, which allows you to observe the things around you and see things that are not normally visible. They say they are beautiful when you stop to look at them and take time for them.

What emerges is a kind of curious psycho-geography, a keen interest in the mundane details of life and the small mysteries of the city. Green walks, wanders, and whatever person, situation, place tickles him, he stops with curiosity and lives the moment.

This year, when I went to New York, I walked just like them and told my relatives there new things that they didn’t know despite living there for two decades. Every Saturday for five weeks we walked ten kilometers through the city, just as Green filmed his walk, and it gave the locals a different perspective.

He liked the idea of ​​exploring a city he had never seen before. There was also simplicity in conversation, without the rush of face-to-face contact, which can hinder intimacy. With each step, we became better listeners and our relationships grew stronger.

We deliberately visited those places without Google, before starting we wrote the places to visit on a piece of paper and then used colored markers to mark the completed routes. As we had pen and paper, we noted down everything we came across that was different and caught our attention.

We were never in a hurry, so there was no rush in our conversation either. Amidst the sounds of cars and police sirens – the most annoying thing on the streets of Manhattan – our relationship grew deeper.

I covered the distance of 50 km in five Saturdays and promised that I would resume it from November, when winters would have started in Mumbai. By the end of winter I will have become a slightly more intelligent hitchhiker.

The bottom line is that This winter, start walking in your respective cities one day a week without any work and see what you missed using vehicles. I am sure you will find your city not only different, but also more beautiful than you thought.