Lessons from: Lampshade's first Reading in MR Book Center godown in Hyderabad to the collab with Penguin with Storyteller Bookstore in Kolkata

-

This blog post is an ode to our supporters and friends who were gracious to open their doors for us. 

Here are a few lessons learnt at Lampshade Readings. 

Grateful to:

In Hyderabad: MR uncle of MR bookstore, Rahul Reddy of Octospaces, Kavitha ji of Akshara bookstore, Zainab of Ofen, Yk Sir, Bala and team of YK Antiques, Abhilasha of Kaveh Qaneh, Team at Cafe Rasasvada (also, a home for books), Omana ma'am of Kaleidoscope, Shilpa and family of Luna books. 

In Kolkata: Sonia and the team at Hip Hop Studio and now, Storyteller bookstore. 

Little did we know that we would one day end up collaborating with Penguin Publishers by sheerly being ourselves and doing our bit. Thanks to Storyteller bookstore, Kolkata and our Kolkata family we are collaborating with Penguin Publishers for a Reading on 19-May. 


                                             


Here are a few lessons we learned along our way:

0. Naming the meetings as Readings: Open mics. Poetry Event. Soul Sunday. were names we associated with initially but slowly pinned on Reading. The thought is to create a warm and welcoming space for everyone to sit and read their poems and share their thoughts and feelings. 

1. De-centralise any Readings you're doing and letting the audience/poets decide the direction at times: Sometimes we are too caught up in thinking 'what we know is right' but that's not the case. Letting the audience or poets decide the flow is a way to involve them as well. 

Some of our Readings were guided midway by the poets with their thoughts. Inititally, you feel like you're losing power but then realise what an illusion power is too. 

2. Trust things will work out: When we started we knew we wanted poets and writers to meet and share their work and as we moved ahead, the essence of meeting/e-meeting remains the same but the programs under our blanket have been expansive -- from fun prompts to studying a particular poet.

From collaborations such as Project Pratibimb with Meetu Chawla, Haiku Writing Workshop with Shloka, Bansa Hindi summer writing program led by Meenakshi ji (2023) and with Garima ji (2024) to collaborating with noted photographer Chandrasekhar Singh, witty illustrator Raaga Katta, and the humble Let's Kauphy.

3. Community is everyone: Sometimes, we are lost in names that we forget that the community is not ours or a person's. It is the people who make it. Yes, some of us are driving forces behind it but essentially it is the community that drives it. 

For our blog, we have made sure that our writers have access to the log in credentials and they update their posts and thus blogger dot com works so well with us. 

Also, this has extended to our Readings. Whenever poets or listeners (the ones who don't read their poems but come to listen) learn that we are supporting Bansa Library, a rural community library in Uttar Pradesh, they support with a part of the fund. 

4. Starting in a Godown at MR Bookstore to Storyteller bookstore and collab with Penguin is such a humbling experience: Poets and writers who love words land up anywhere where there are books, a cup of chai or coffee and some poets or writers. 

Our persistence to conduct Readings amid books, albeit challenging to understand to some, has helped us stick to our values and on finding Storyteller Bookstore in Kolkata for a blog post and later approaching for a venue taught us that being true to our beliefs take us a long way, although timetaking it is worth it. 

One of our first Readings at Octospaces, Hyderabad


March 2021 at MR Bookstore Godown, Hyderabad

April 2022 at Qaveh Kaneh, Hyderabad


January 2023 at YK Antiques, Hyderabad 


February 2023 at Kaleidoscope, Hyderabad 


September 2023 at Hip Hop Studio at Kolkata 

March 2024 at Luna Books, Hyderabad


April 2024 at Storyteller Bookstore, Kolkata












Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The presence of his absence

-
Image
  Bala and me Bala's presence at YK Antiques has been so impactful that when he left Hyderabad, it left a gaping hole. One that we cannot fill and thinking we can fill it is only foolish. His passion and love for YK Antiques is unparalled.  Satya, Bala and sir with Dobara team For the unitiated, YK Antiques is a home museum in Alwal, Hyderabad, and is run by YK Murthy and is supported by the love of volunteers -- Satya, Vinay, Preeti, Laalithya, among others.  And today, there was a School Tour to the museum. And personally, the presence of Bala's absence was felt. Before Bala moved to Goa, he spent most of his time at YK Antiques and he and YK Sir set the home museum with utmost care. Whenever there was a school tour, Bala would spontaneously conjure some fascinating activity.  And this time, it was we who had to do it. I knew it would be hard to fill in the shoes of Bala. And the next thing, I thought was to involve my mother, who is creative and spontaneous. The t...
Read more

Ammamma

-
Image
Ammamma. The word itself evokes memories for us. Her passing is the passing of a part of our childhood which we (my cousins and I) cherish. This is a piece for her. Ammamma is a telugu word to address mom's mom.  Ammamma lived in Chikkadpally, an area in the older part of Hyderabad, in one of those houses with multiple door entries, many windows in every room, and washroom that’s outside the house. Like Ammamma, the house was open, warm and welcoming. Anyone (whom we know ofcourse) could come inside and stay there as long as they wanted to. This was the 90s and perhaps due to the times we lived in, people were trusting of each other, children grew up in multiple households (grandparents’, aunts’, uncles’..). In our household, while there was emphasis on studies, there was emphasis on having fun too – be it watching movies, playing in the gully, studying and going to tuition together, or watching the Sunday Jungle Book together. Ammamma played a pivotal role in taking us to movi...
Read more

A chit-chat with Nita of Yunikee & Sign Medium that makes life accessible for the people of deaf community

-
Image
Nita was born hearing to deaf parents. Living through the challenges of communicating on behalf of her parents with hearing people, After pursuing many things, eventually began working with deaf children. In 2019, she founded Yunikee & Sign Medium, with her husband, Chaithanya, and a friend, Rahul, to make life accessible for 60 million people in the deaf community in the country. She also runs International Deaf Academy that provides high quality education to children in the deaf community. Here’s a brief chit chat with Nita. Team Yunikee Please share your journey that led you to founding Yunikee. I was born hearing to deaf parents and all through my life, I experienced firsthand the challenges and struggles a deaf person goes through even in simple things that we take for granted. At a time when phones were not common and digital video calling was not even thought of, my parents had to communicate with hearing people, and I started interpreting for them as I grew up. But for a ...
Read more