A book or a few in their arms, a bag packed with a mat, a water bottle and these days, an umbrella or a raincoat. Guided by a certain sense of community, the ‘readers’ make their way across the grass to reach where there are more. Others, like them, are either sprawled across on mats and blankets or perched comfortably on benches. Some daydream, most read.
Slowly, but steadily, a growing community of silent book readers is taking over public parks in different cities. Unlike book clubs, here one doesn’t ask participants to pick up certain books and discuss them. All that is asked for is to bring a book and read peacefully amid nature. Today, there are more than 60 city chapters of such quiet book communities spread not just in India, but worldwide.
The initiative started in Bengaluru with 30-year-old professional baker and marketer Shruti Sah and her entrepreneur friend, 33-year-old Harsh Snehanshu, spending hours in December of last year at Cubbon Park reading to their hearts’ content. The giant peepul tree with its canopy of branches felt immensely comfortable and they happened to share their experience on their social media handles. Inspired, some of their friends too decided to join in, giving Sah and Snehanshu the motivation to start Cubbon Reads. The first official session happened on January 14 this year with six attendees. “The last count we did of the participants was around 700. This was two weekends ago. We don’t count anymore,” says Snehanshu.
But why should Bengaluru have all the fun? Soon, bibliophiles across cities in India stumbled on the Instagram handle of Cubbon Reads and reached out to them, wanting to start their own city chapters. “We set up other ‘Reads’ across cities in India starting with Delhi (@lodhireads) and Mumbai (@juhureads). While the first two were led by friends, the later ones were led by strangers who messaged us on Instagram and volunteered to set up a chapter in their cities,” recalls Sah.
Currently, there are more than 60 ‘Reads’ affiliated with the OG Cubbon Reads, including Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochi, Goa, Ahmedabad, Vijayawada, Puducherry, Thrissur, Srinagar, Cuttack, Nagpur, Guwahati, Shillong, Jaipur, Surat, Siliguri, Ranchi, Lucknow and more. Internationally, there are chapters in Kuala Lumpur, Amsterdam, Melbourne, London, Dubai, Paris, Johannesburg, Seattle, Boston and New York City among others. After setting up city chapters, Sah and Snehanshu shared the Cubbon Reads ‘Start a Chapter’ playbook publicly on Instagram highlights to let anyone start it without their handholding. The two, however, are available to the curators in case they require help with regard to content, media queries, community management or logistics.
One such enthusiastic reader was Gautham P Krishna, an IT project manager from Kerala who started Thrissur Reads on June 17 at Thekkinkadu Maithanam, and says he is glad to see this little community growing. “People from all age groups come and it is good to see them reading without getting distracted by their mobile phones,” he says, adding that while he does see new readers every weekend, there are quite a few who attend regularly.
The fact that there is no pressure of interacting with others or discussing the book—although people are most welcome to do that later—is what drew the Juhu Reads co-curators Rachna Malhotra and Diya Sengupta. “I often find readers to be introverts,” says Malhotra, a freelance tutor and personality development trainer by profession. “When you read, you fall into your own world. When readers come here, they can be detached from everyone, yet feel a sense of belonging and the feeling of being part of a community,” she adds. Nishkant Jain, co-curator of Jaipur Reads, seconds her thought. “There is nothing more peaceful than feeling close to nature and getting lost in a book. You have to experience it to feel it,” he adds.
Sah and Snehanshu also see this initiative as a way to initiate conversations around the reclamation of public spaces by citizens. “Parks are among the most democratic public spaces one can enjoy. The ideal achievement of this movement will be when people feel free and safe to go to any park and lie down to read or even get lost in their dreams,” they say. So, whether you are in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh or Regent Park in London, chances are there is a ‘Reads’ nearby. Time to take your books for a day in the park.
