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SLICES of THOUGHT
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Books are great when they're shared. And book clubs do just that
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Rohin, Uma and Arun say that books have to be varied and easy to grasp. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy
GETTING TOGETHER to read, to make time, find a place, choose a book that interests everyone in the group, and to keep it going is difficult. But a few young people have done it, BREAD — the Book Reading and Discussion Club.
BREAD was set up in May 2002 by Rohin Dharmakumar, an MBA student, and a couple of his friends. The idea of a club, Rohin says, is crucial because it creates pressure to read or at least to listen because one is a member. BREAD kicked off with the idea of reading, discussing and understanding different perceptions of a book, once a fortnight on Sundays. The first few sessions had seven to 10 members coming in. Three to four of them would read a book in full. The others would listen. As sessions passed, the members coming in dipped to around four. The first difficulties were showing up.
The club, in its recent exercise, took up Maximum City by Suketu Mehta, a book on the underbelly of Mumbai — riots, Shiv Sena, underworld, and all. Interesting on the face of it, like the movie Satya. But was it actually? Rohin said some thought there are already enough troubles and this would disturb the senses. Some others thought it was also too thick. "Well, it was decently thick. Of course, I too could do only 150 pages though the book is interesting," Rohin explained, saying how different factors acted on a session.
Uma, an oral pathologist, said there was a tendency to digress during the discussion. "The book is about Bombay riots. But we bring our personal experiences and look at riots in Delhi. Then we go into details of mob mentality. Why it occurs, and so on."
Arun Ramachandran, a computer professional, said a book on riots would be very graphic. "It could get depressing. It could polarise members." All of them also said how they felt books were "dense and complicated" at times.
The sessions went on well in 2002. For all these reasons, not to do with just one book, the club petered out in 2003. In early 2004, Rohin and friends thought the club needed to be revived. "We were in two minds because there were not enough members. But we got lucky when two to three enthusiasts came by. And more fortunately, old members rejoined. But nothing happened after that. Finally, we decided to mail reviews. That's when some responded. With reviews you tend to take a stand."
Mailing reviews alone would not be enough to get people interested in reading. Rohin said books have to be varied, easy to grasp, popular, and not too expensive because the members do the funda act of buying the book after the read. The members of the book club choose a particular book for reading depending on its merit. "It is also about how well you know the book."
The club largely reads fiction. "Most people relate to fiction. And by and large the response has been good," said Uma. The club has so far read Salman Rushdie's Haroun and The Sea of Stories, Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, Antoine De Saint Exupery's The Little Prince, Rajni Bakshi's Bapu Kutti, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mocking Bird, Jose Saramago's Blindness, J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace, Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things, Eric S. Raymond's The Cathedral and the Bazaar and some Booker and Nobel winners.
The club has tried to watch a film and read the book it's based on. For instance, Trainspotting. "But that did not work for logistical reasons. You need a house, a DVD facility, and then other things come up. But we'll try," said Rohin.
For information on the club, call Rohin on 98451-20504 or Uma on 23462102.
G.N.P.
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