Books, the best bet

the reading of ipsita roy chakravarty's book beloved witch organised by the book club at the habitat centre was dramatic. the reading was accompanied by a live demonstration of witchcraft by the author, which held the audience spell-bound. the reading of an equal music, a romance by vikram seth, was interspersed with classical compositions by deepak castelino.book reading sessions are often dull affairs where a monotonous voice renders excerpts from a book. but these demonstrations made the evening a memorable one, more participatory, interesting and enjoyable for the authors as well as members of the book club. the book club was started by five book lovers and aspiring writers — anupam nanadrajog, bubbles sabharwal, kumud dewan, nidhi sharma and vipin pasricha. three years ago they met at a creative writing workshop. the meeting infused in them a desire to promote the reading habit in the bureaucratic and political circles of the capital. due to preoccupation with tv viewing, the reading habit is diminishing. these writers feel that delhiites have the time and money for social evenings, for wining and dining, but not for evenings dedicated to book readings, where not even tea is served. sabharwal says, "i think we have grown tremendously. the audience is increasing. although i would say the achievement is qualitative...very small steps to climb the mountain." the objectives of the book club are "to promote the reading habit," says sabharwal; and "to bring the author and audience closer, providing diverse perspectives on the books," adds pasricha. while nandrajog feels, "the books need identity. we invite the author to talk about the book, and the inspiration behind writing it." the members feel that a book club is a literary platform, not a social grouping. nor is it an intellectual body swarming with literary critics. the idea is to make reading sessions full of fun, and the evenings, happening events. the audience are wooed not by tea and snacks, but by making the reading eventful and enjoyable. the books for reading include short stories, poetry books, fiction and non-fiction, comprising the works of indian, british, american and south african writers. the group is innovating, experimenting to develop the reading habit among people. as the launches and reading sessions create interest in books, they boost book sales too. the book club is a non-commercial venture dedicated to promoting the book culture and widening the sphere of reading, weaning the public from the addiction of television. sabharwal says, "we personalise the book. all the five of us open our windows to the book, analytically study and see it from different perspectives. at the interactive session, the author gets a direct feedback on the book from the audience. in a year about eight events are organised." sharma adds, "every six weeks we have a book reading session with the audience." some readings coincided with launches. how does the book club function? the members said: "we meet twice a month at the habitat centre to discuss new books. the first step is the selection of books for reading. we visit the book stores for new titles and decide on the subject — whether it is going to be fiction or non-fiction. then each one of us takes a book of our choice. the same books are read by each member. the analysis and discussions yield five different perspectives. we decide on the book and organise the session, throwing open the book to the audience for initiating discussion, welcoming questions for interactivity." sharma says, "as the book club is a podium for encouraging the reading habit, we take the writers and books to colleges and schools. recently, we co-ordinated with lsr for author meets and readings of books by pankaj misra and amit choudhry at the british council. children's books were dramatised for young readers." the future plans are to take the books out to more and more people, (and for that there are schools and colleges) and to start their own newsletter bi-yearly.