KOCHI: 25-year-old Aditya Panikker has been away from home for a while, but the memories never faded. For all those who fell in love with the Queen of the Arabian Sea, he has brought back a memoir that runs deep with nostalgia
The Ernakulam Boat Jetty is purely utilitarian. Devoid of any frills, it ferries people from the mainland to the historic island of Fort Kochi and back. The humble service is not meant for touristy things, doesn’t pretend to be so and yet, every time someone takes their first ride on it, they are enthralled. Passing by colossal ships that sail with a constant whir, catching the light dance on the little waves with the cityscape fading in the backdrop seems like a mini escapade. For France-based business development executive-cum-photographer Aditya Panikker, the trick is to take the ferry just before sun down when the sky is pink and the ships turn their lights on. Aditya’s near two-minute viral video titled ‘Kochi from a dream’ is an achingly beautiful ode to his hometown.
“Kochi is not a feeling, or an emotion, or any of those poetic cliches. She’s a little complicated, she is unapologetically unpretentious.” Aditya’s voice is heard saying at the beginning of the video. Even as he cautions against poetic cliches, Aditya strings ambient visuals against verses that can only be described as a love poem for Kochi and ‘her’ charm. ‘Kochi from a dream’, which contains montages of the ferry, the sea, the city and, of course, its people was put together using pre-pandemic footage Aditya found in his hard drive.
“I have been thinking of home lately. There is a Portuguese word ‘saudade’ which refers to a profound emotional state of nostalgia and longing for home or something or someone that is absent. They say you kill your saudade by looking at photos or videos of what you are missing. I keep watching these clips and when I went back to them recently, I felt the need to compile a video. Growing up, I lived in different places but I spent the most time in Kochi and I look back at them as my formative years. I came to a sense of self, I grew as a person in Kochi. The ferry ride is especially something I cherish, I always found myself pondering over so many things when I am on it,” says Aditya who works for the audio broadcast company Digigram.
Although a self-taught photographer, Aditya has what seems like a trained eye for visual storytelling. Surprising still, because his tryst with the camera is fairly recent. His videos, which can be primarily be classified into two categories, delve on serious socio-political issues while more personal videos are deeply evocative renditions. Coloured in shades of blue, green and pink, Aditya’s works present a sense of atmosphere that is at the cusp of dark and light, loss and gain, love and longing.
“I have always been keen towards art and photography has always fascinated me. However, I seriously took it up when I purchased a camera with my first salary a couple of years ago. What I create reflects my life. I am generally a calm and happy person and my story-telling comes from a positive, romanticised and, at times, even unrealistic outlook. I can’t create when I am unhappy. I think it’s a true privilege to be seen and heard and I am grateful for the recognition and appreciation my work gets,” adds Aditya who hopes to publish a book of visual poetry which would be a compilation of his verses and photographs.
Find the video on Instagram @aditya.panikker