A young cyclist from Kashmir's Lolab valley recently set out on a journey of several thousand kilometres toward Makkah to perform Umrah. A GoPro (camera) was already fixed to his handlebars. Within days, clips of his departure travelled faster than he did, gathering views while he was still pedalling from Kashmir to Delhi.

He is not alone. Across Kashmir, Kerala, Pakistan, Malaysia and Turkey, a growing number of young men have taken to bicycles and their own feet to reach the holy cities, each journey filmed, narrated and watched by an audience that will perhaps never follow. This is not just a story about faith, though faith runs through every mile. It is a story about what happens when an old religious practice gets pulled into a modern game built around visibility, attention and reward.

We spent time reading comment sections under posts about this cyclist who is perhaps accompanying a friend too. Roughly five out of every ten comments from young followers had nothing to do with faith. They treated the journey as an adventure sport, a bid for reels fame, or a stepping stone toward becoming an influencer. The pilgrimage has never been more visible, yet the pilgrim has rarely been so pulled in two directions, caught between his wheels and an audience waiting for updates.

Pilgrimage has always involved hardship and witnesses. Earlier travellers kept diaries later pilgrims cherished. Documentation itself is not new. What has changed is who it is recorded for. Today's pilgrim broadcasts almost in real time to strangers scrolling on their phones. The room no longer has walls.A pilgrim on a bicycle performs not only for family and hosts along the way, but for a scattered, invisible........

© Greater Kashmir