Follow a Cable

We begin our walk at the Central Telegraph Office (CTO) to learn about the history of telegraphy in Bengaluru and India. As a first activation, everyone picks up a pen to follow a material manifestation of internet infrastructure: cables. The CTO is covered in internet and electricity cables. Following one cable with our pens each, we are led to a nearby tree.

With many lines/cables in our sketchbook-zines we move into Cubbon Park to measure a less apparent yet still often present manifestation of the internet: the size of a hotspot.

A group of people stand in an outdoor urban area, surrounded by buildings and greenery, with the Central Telegraph Office to their left. They are attentively facing Iz who is talking about the history of the CTO. The setting includes a partially constructed high-rise and trees. A person holds a sheet of paper from a zine that Iz has made for the network walk into the camera. They have drawn the Central Telegraph Office and the internet cables that span across it onto the front page with blue ink. Above their drawing there is a historic photo of the Central Telegraph Office printed, as well as the words ‚Follow one cable with your pen‘.