Bookgasm and The Lit People make reading fun in Hyderabad

While a lot of the metropolis is settling in for a lazy lunch on a Sunday afternoon, a bunch of strangers-turned-book-lovers are gathered at a comfortable café — hungry for dialog, not meals. This is Bookgasm, a six-month-old ebook membership by Bengaluru-based Oopar Club, a bodily social community. But it’s not your regular ebook membership. It is a component of a bigger effort to construct communities round shared pursuits — whether or not it’s reading, music, dance or sport, and flip solitary hobbies into one thing extra social.

Sagar Agarwal, who began Bookgasm, says it got here from a easy thought: “People would show up with their own books and read quietly.” As an avid reader himself, he realised that the actual pleasure got here not simply from reading, however from sharing views. “You take away one thing from a book, someone else sees it completely differently, and that is the fun bit.”

Sagar Agarwal
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So Bookgasm was set as much as spark correct, structured dialog. Each session is themed, with curated excerpts from a few books — fashionable or basic, fiction or non-fiction. For instance, one session explored the concept of enlightenment by way of Osho’s Krishna and Coelho’s The Alchemist. “Both books tackled the same idea but from completely different cultural standpoints,” says Sagar.

The format is open, inclusive and evenly moderated to maintain issues flowing. Around 25 individuals normally present as much as every session, held each different Sunday at 12.30pm in cafés (particulars avaliable on their app) round Hyderabad and Bengaluru. While Bookgasm now has over 500 members, the vibe stays intimate and laidback.

“At Oopar, we are not just building spaces for conversation, we are building connection,” says Sagar. Bookgasm has grow to be a spot the place strangers flip into mates, the place reading is not only solitary however social.

Bookgasm is hosted each alternate Sunday at 12:30pm throughout cafés and eating places.

With an experiential strategy

 Kalpana Sinha and Unnati Ved
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Imagine this: an creator drops in for a ebook membership session to share behind-the-scenes tales, a sketch artist teaches you the way to attract Manga, or a historical past professor joins to bust just a few myths. That is The Lit People for you — a four-month-old ebook membership that isn’t nearly reading, however about experience-led, considerate engagement.

The Lit People at Off The Shelf ebook retailer
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Founded by ebook lovers Kalpana Sinha and Unnati Ved, The Lit People is attempting to interrupt the mould of typical ebook golf equipment. Before launching in February, the duo hung out researching present golf equipment in the town — understanding what labored, what didn’t, and how they might supply one thing extra layered and significant.

They additionally launched a membership mannequin to maintain the periods intentional and participating. There are two choices — an annual plan for ₹7,650 or a two-book, two-event starter for ₹2,295. “We didn’t want it to be just another free-for-all where no one reads the book. The idea is to keep it structured and respectful of everyone’s time,” says Unnati, who left a finance job in 2017 to begin Eager Kids, a inventive reading membership for kids and teenagers.

Members of The Lit People after a session
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At Eager Kids, younger readers don’t simply learn books, additionally they take part in actions based mostly on the ebook’s themes. Unnati wished adults to expertise this, too. So when she casually talked about the concept at a celebration hosted by Kalpana — her senior from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) Mumbai — the spark caught fireplace.

And it’s not simply geared toward seasoned readers. “We want to include people who want to read but are not sure how to begin,” says Kalpana. Their very first occasion, based mostly on Dear Mrs Bird, featured a shock visitor: creator AJ Pearce herself, who joined nearly. Fifty readers on the Centre for Organisation and Development had been handled to a full of life, interactive session.

The venues shift relying on the ebook’s theme, and meals is all the time a part of the expertise, making it equal elements literary and social. To preserve the momentum going, Unnati sends every day insights and trivia by way of WhatsApp to assist readers join extra deeply with the ebook. For their Circe session on May 18, she despatched a picture of an historical scroll that had readers guessing the chapters linked to the Greek delusion.

Next up? A session with historical past professor Anindita Mukhopadhyay, who will likely be myth-busting because the group dives into Circe.

The Lit People meet on the third Saturday of each month.