I don’t recall when I first fell in love with books. I only remember the silent hours of joy spent poring over a book. Perhaps it was when I rushed home to a copy of Mohsin Hamid’s anguish-inducing?Mothsmoke, or the fantastical?Body?by Hanif Kureishi. Or maybe it was on the many nights I spent reminiscing about a childhood in the hills through Ruskin Bond’s knowing descriptions of the people and the ghosts populating Mussoorie.?
If you are a reader, chances are that you, like me, cherish uninterrupted reading time. You are also likely to be an introvert, even if you enjoy the outdoors. What if you were told that you could have all that in the great outdoors of a city, with a community of your own? You could choose to read what you want, without the pressure of book discussions and small talk, while you felt a fresh breeze waft across your face.?
These are the guiding principles of a reading movement that began in Bengaluru’s Cubbon Park in January this year and has spread to other cities. And the Indian monsoon has dampened neither the readers’ books nor their spirits.?
I arrived at Bandra’s Joggers Park on a cloudy August morning. The rain gods had been kind, and a gap between spells of intense rain meant one could take in one of the limited green spaces of Mumbai. At the edge of the sea, with the backdrop of crashing waves – never mind the impending Coastal Road Project – Bandra Reads has met every Sunday morning over the past six weeks, torrential rains notwithstanding.?
Here, over a dozen people had turned benches and ledges into their reading nooks. They sat, heads bent over thick volumes, with an occasional smile exchanged but no conversation. For the next two hours, we read in silence, looking up at the waves, resident cats, and the passing joggers. It was a bright day, and the sun, after over two weeks, was preparing to visit us. The light was perfect for a reading session, and the umbrellas were folded away.?
At precisely 10:30 am, the readers got up to chat and stack up their books on a bench. One of the members proceeded to take pictures of the books and then invited us for pictures too. There was no discussion, and you could opt out of the shoot if you wanted to. Shortly after, breakfast plans were made, but I decided to spend some more time at the park.?
Bandra Reads was started this June by Amie Fazhulbhoy and Anca Florescu Abraham as a chapter of the original Cubbon Reads in Bengaluru. Although the two are Bandra residents, the club attracts readers from around the city, including areas like Andheri and Ghatkopar. Unlike conventional book clubs, where readers pick one book and discuss it threadbare, here you are encouraged to bring anything you’d like to read – fiction, non-fiction, magazines, course books, journals and everything in between.?
At the original Cubbon Reads, which meets every Saturday, between 9 am and 2 pm, under a picturesque peepal tree in the eponymous Bengaluru park, around 500 people show up with their books and umbrellas. For founders Shruti Sah and Harsh Snehanshu, this was a personal Saturday ritual that gained instant popularity on social media. They said that they wanted to take intellectualising away from the simple act of reading. The rules, thus, are simple. Silence is mandated, and discussion is discouraged.?
In the time of Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, where even a fridge cleaning is aestheticised and consumed, a silent reading movement has gone viral.?
“After setting up 60+ chapters, we shared the Cubbon Reads ‘Start a Chapter’ playbook publicly on the Instagram highlight to let anyone start it without our hand holding. Curators remain connected with Cubbon Reads founders through WhatsApp chats in case they need any help with regard to content, media queries, community management, or logistics,” said Sah, in an email interview.?
Chapters have been set up in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, Kochi, and smaller towns like Thrissur, Pondicherry, Shillong, Ranchi, among others. Take Jabalpur Reads, for instance, by brothers Nayan and Sanskar Jain, owners of a book-rental platform who decided to build a community as an extension of their business. “In our first session on July 15, despite the rains, 25 people showed up at Bhanwar Tal Garden,” says Nayan, adding that he is on a mission to attract non-readers, even bringing his stack of books to share.
With the founding chapter, Snehanshu stressed the importance of welcoming all kinds of readers, “beginners and elites alike, no promotions and no user data collection”. And so, the communities attract a variety of people across age groups and books across genres. Juhu Reads, which takes place on Saturdays at Kaifi Azmi Park, attracts many elderly participants. At Kolkata Reads, which meets at the Victoria Memorial, founder Debamita Banerjee has seen UPSC aspirants join in to study, too.?
On rainy days, members of Bandra Reads are seen huddled together under a canopy at the park’s entrance, as stray cats cuddle up to them for warmth. For the readers, it is also an excuse to experience the lush green monsoon outdoors, and the relatively moderate temperatures in Mumbai at this time of the year. Fazhulbhoy tells us that more than half of its attendees are regulars.
When their cities are inundated, everyone reads “virtually,” sharing titles on Instagram. At Lodhi Reads, the first official chapter of Cubbon Reads, founders Ritika Chawla and Nabiha Tasnim remember going virtual only once despite the monsoon deluge in the city. “We have 50-60 people show up every week, even though the weather outdoors is hardly conducive,” says Chawla.
Besides, several parks and public spaces across the country are guided by regulations that are strange or restrictive. Some, like Joggers Park, forbid food and beverages, while some others won’t allow pets. How, then, do park authorities view a bunch of readers who show up week after week??
Most communities we spoke to have experienced little to no interference. A silent reading community, they say, could do no harm to the sanctity of a park as long as regulations are met. Juhu Reads, the first chapter in Mumbai, founded by Rachna Malhotra and Diya Sen Gupta, had the guards at Kaifi Azmi Park tell them they would ruin the grass by sitting and reading on it. “I showed them a?tweet?about Cubbon Reads by the Prime Minister, and there has been no interference since,”?says Sen Gupta.
Furthermore, with the popularity of these reading communities, adjacent ones centred around other hobbies have also surfaced. Cubbon Paints, Kolkata Paints, Lodhi Knits, and a few others are now interpreting the model.?
In tropical climes, the incessant rains and gloomy skies become an excuse for indoor activities (read: binge-watching OTT content). Taking a book outdoors to a park brought back memories of picnics and a simpler world. The lawns were lush and moist with the night’s rains, the sea rhythmic, and the joggers considerate.?
I could read without a care in the world. Every time I looked up, I saw others like me, holding a book and a shine in their eyes… the kind only a fellow reader can identify.