Hyderabadi Man Hitchhiked Across The Country Promoting A World Without Borders

At first, Mohammad Akram Feroze got out his bicycle; when the two wheels weren’t fast enough, he took up a motorbike, and soon graduated to driving a truck to spread his message. Today, he has travelled across over 10,000 kilometers and thousands of villages, to present his theatrical performance based on identity and borders. As a traveller and artist, Akram often questions the evolution of a society without borders. “Why don’t we have a world accessible for all and not just a few,” he asks.

For ‘The Cycle Natak,’ that travelled almost 40 villages since it was launched, he rode his bicycle for three years spreading his philosophy regarding a person’s identity as a global citizen. Travelling from Kachch to Kolkata, and from Hyderabad to Kashmir, Akram is known to create theatre for people who wouldn’t have access to a stage. Creating ‘invisible theatre,’ as he likes to call it, Akram enacts monologues at places people least expect. “People are not aware that a play is taking place, but inadvertently become a part of it. I keep talking and take their response. It is a dialogue between me and them,” he said. Akram keeps changing his identity, nationality, name and personality during a play and tries to create a debate on the relevance of those very differences.

Travelling since the last five to six years, Hyderabad resident 28-year-old Akram has painted graffiti, assisted people during the Kashmir floods and even been sent to prison on the suspicion of being a spy. He spent 20 days in a prison in Jaisalmer as he was too close to the Pakistan border while ironically staging his ‘Theatre at Borders’ initiative. “If I as an Indian can be arrested for walking peacefully, it makes my art even more relevant. We focus too much on defending our borders than building relationships across them. It was reason enough for me to continue,” said Akram. He had begun his ‘Theatre at Borders’ from the borders of Pakistan in 2015 and was supposed to cover China, Bangladesh and Bhutan but was met with a dead end at the prison. “I had covered 2000 kms but had to stop after that incident,” he said.

A holder of the ‘world passport’ that allows citizens ‘to leave any country, including one’s own, and to return to one’s country,’ Akram had many disbelievers. One can get a world passport as a right under Article 13 (2) under the Universal Declaration of Human rights. Even with thorough documents, he to face many bureaucratic boomerangs. “That incident taught me a lot about the humanity of people as well. It brought me closer to my family and the meaning of having a family. I don’t know if I was targeted because I am Muslim but the support I received from people was exemplary. It reassured me of my confidence in the world,” he said.

Working at borders gave Akram a new perspective on historical baggage that people carry. “Refugees of war are present on both sides yet no country will accept their own role as a part of the war. They end up justifying it,” he said. He has shared various anecdotes from his travels where he has interacted with villagers, children and an unassuming crowd but could see a common thread binding all of them. “In Assam, you have a different type of conflict. One village will tell you to not cross the boundary of another village after sunset while the other village will tell you to travel only before sunrise if I want to save my life. Both of them treated me with a lot of respect and took care of me but would become violent towards each other. All the regions of our country have their own historical attachments but all of them want the same thing. Food, Shelter, Clothing, Good Education, safety of their children and a better future is what all of them aspire for,” he said.

He says he has seen first-hand as to how art can change people. “When I was doing a play with children in Andaman islands, I asked them about an issue that affects them the most. All them were unanimous about alcohol being the biggest problem. They saw it everywhere and everyone consuming it and did not like what it brought out in people. They devised the play and performed it for the community in their village. They got a roaring applause and the people asked me to stay back to enjoy a wedding. I wasn’t sure if I should stay but they requested. While the wedding was in procession, A Bengali man who was probably drunk came and insulted me. He said how could I teacher her daughter about alcohol. Her daughter was one of the children in the play. He said that the play didn’t make him want to quit drinking but he will stop drinking in front of her. If I can inspire even that small change, it is a huge victory for me,” he said. “This art is the only way I can express my philosophy and keep it alive,” he adds.

“Ever since he started, Akram has visited various remote parts of the country, meeting people and trying to learn from their experiences. He fondly remembers the truck drivers he took lift from and the interesting stories by people he shared a cup of tea with,” reports The Indian Express. “Talking about one such conversation, Akram said that he once asked a child in a village at the Indo-Pak border about his thoughts on borders. ‘The kid replied that when they hear about border, the first word which comes to their mind in enemy or end,’” he told the publication.

This idea of borders and their power to divide humans inspired him to fight for annihilating the boundaries. According to him, “The idea of a world without borders may seem Utopian but it is something that people need to believe in and strive to achieve,” he said in the interview.

Read more about him here.