Observations
What is a book club? Well, a club, which has people who if not crazy about reading are at least fond of it. Sigh… As the writers produce more and more pulp fiction; please read crap, the quality of readers have also taken a dip. And I don’t blame them. Why should any sensible reader, who is fond of reading for the craft of writing, the art of story telling, waste his/her time flipping through the pages of some moronic IIM romance, or some badly written college routine? However, as reading is in vogue, so is the title of being an author, more and more people are writing and to match the supply, more and more people are reading too.
No wonder, this shift reflects in the composition of book clubs too.They can be clearly divided into three categories. The REAL Book ClubThe BORED HOUSEWIFE Book ClubThe ULTERIOR Motive Book Club.
The REAL Book Clubs are fast becoming extinct. But you can still find them tucked away in the lanes or the bunglows of cities like Kolkatta, Pune and Bangalore. Here, the average age of a member would be fifty five years. A word of caution for young wannabe authors: Don’t you dare enter these literate ghettos. You will be mincemeat in no time. From classics to the neo-classics, the members would have read, debated and dissected them all. What is a classic? No, no, it is not the best-seller on Flipkart or Amazon. How should I describe them to you? Mmmm, okay, for your benefit, they are the titles, which are thick, and which you could not read after the first five pages as neither the language nor the plot could be comprehended by you. Yes, War and Peace is a classic, so is Wuthering Heights. These clubs have their weekly or monthly meetings at either one of the city’s oldest club or in the sprawling living room of one of the members. Aristocratic, old world charm and still very much in love with literature.
The BORED HOUSEWIFE Book Clubs are typically found in metros and mini-metros. In most of the cases, they are spearheaded by a woman with the sole purpose of getting away from the ‘kitty’ tag, trying to engage in something more cerebral in nature. This is the place where you will find the glitterati and the page three crowd. Diamonds, recent foreign trips, the Prada and the Guccis of the world occupy a large part of the evening. Typically the meets are held over wine and cheese and in Delhi, over tikkas and kebabs. These are the clubs where for sure the classics adorn the expensive oak bookshelves; but for their snob value, not for reading pleasure. Though Kafka, Marquez, Coelho are the in thing, but the route to nirvana is through the banal, pedestrian narration of some wannabe author. Mind you, this author has to be good looking, cute and hot too.
The last one is worst of the lot. Mostly formed by some enterprising soul, it thrives on numbers. Found mostly in Delhi and Mumbai, these are all out a facade to run commercial activity. “Our club has got 5,000 members,” could be their opening statement. What, 5,000 members in a book club? Dude, are you sure it’s not a cricket club? These clubs are largely interested in holding events, launches and other commercial activity. In most of the cases, the founder members are into events or other commercial activity in and around the publishing vertical. They get into arrangements with authors; to host them, release their book, and ensure it generates big bytes. Of course, every service has a price tag. There are no free lunches dahling!
Phew! I have been to all of them. Each of them come with a distinct flavor; either to do with books and reading or else…come on, don’t be so mean. The tikkas could be good too.
Today, for some reason, I am inspired to write. Poor you, I know you will have to read. Someone asked me the other day that being an author how can I run them down. Me, an author? You got to be kidding. If Salman Rushdie is an author then I cant be one and if I am an author, then for sure he can’t be one. Author is a big tag, which now people have started wearing freely. Read the posts of some of the authors. “My book is available in Flipkart.” “I am so proud with the fact that my title is at the number third on Amazon.” Believe me, I am not kidding.
This brings me to another hilarious facet—invites. I know I come from an old school of thought where inviting someone meant serious business. My late Grand father and then my father rarely had dinner alone. Even being a routine affair, every single guest, was invited with utmost respect. From serving the most amazing Mughlai Pranthas to Chicken Mussalam to die for or even the Paan in Chandi ka wark, everything had great amount of care and respect for the guest. Invite for bigger events meant going over to their place, handing over the invite, then following up the same over the phone etc. Not because there was more time but inviting someone meant offering him/her all their respect. However, today, courtesy FB, you have to open your friend list and just do ‘select all. And the comedy starts. Congratulatory messages start pouring in, and then the thread gets bigger. People who throw these invites need to be a little sensitive and show a little more compassion in inviting over guests. I also understand that they laundry list of invite is done to generate crowd at the event, to show how rocking you are to generate such a big crowd. But then, I m sure even if this is your motto in life, sensitivity and sensibility should be taken care of.
Today I got one such invite. To this one and all others, which I have received in the past or which I would hit my inbox in the future; You moron, I am not interested in being part of a crowd, singing your praise. I know you are low on self esteem and self respect, I am not. If you really want to have me over, show some respect, so that I could reciprocate the same by being a part of your event. If you think you are too big or busy, go and get yourself fucked.
No wonder, this shift reflects in the composition of book clubs too.They can be clearly divided into three categories. The REAL Book ClubThe BORED HOUSEWIFE Book ClubThe ULTERIOR Motive Book Club.
The REAL Book Clubs are fast becoming extinct. But you can still find them tucked away in the lanes or the bunglows of cities like Kolkatta, Pune and Bangalore. Here, the average age of a member would be fifty five years. A word of caution for young wannabe authors: Don’t you dare enter these literate ghettos. You will be mincemeat in no time. From classics to the neo-classics, the members would have read, debated and dissected them all. What is a classic? No, no, it is not the best-seller on Flipkart or Amazon. How should I describe them to you? Mmmm, okay, for your benefit, they are the titles, which are thick, and which you could not read after the first five pages as neither the language nor the plot could be comprehended by you. Yes, War and Peace is a classic, so is Wuthering Heights. These clubs have their weekly or monthly meetings at either one of the city’s oldest club or in the sprawling living room of one of the members. Aristocratic, old world charm and still very much in love with literature.
The BORED HOUSEWIFE Book Clubs are typically found in metros and mini-metros. In most of the cases, they are spearheaded by a woman with the sole purpose of getting away from the ‘kitty’ tag, trying to engage in something more cerebral in nature. This is the place where you will find the glitterati and the page three crowd. Diamonds, recent foreign trips, the Prada and the Guccis of the world occupy a large part of the evening. Typically the meets are held over wine and cheese and in Delhi, over tikkas and kebabs. These are the clubs where for sure the classics adorn the expensive oak bookshelves; but for their snob value, not for reading pleasure. Though Kafka, Marquez, Coelho are the in thing, but the route to nirvana is through the banal, pedestrian narration of some wannabe author. Mind you, this author has to be good looking, cute and hot too.
The last one is worst of the lot. Mostly formed by some enterprising soul, it thrives on numbers. Found mostly in Delhi and Mumbai, these are all out a facade to run commercial activity. “Our club has got 5,000 members,” could be their opening statement. What, 5,000 members in a book club? Dude, are you sure it’s not a cricket club? These clubs are largely interested in holding events, launches and other commercial activity. In most of the cases, the founder members are into events or other commercial activity in and around the publishing vertical. They get into arrangements with authors; to host them, release their book, and ensure it generates big bytes. Of course, every service has a price tag. There are no free lunches dahling!
Phew! I have been to all of them. Each of them come with a distinct flavor; either to do with books and reading or else…come on, don’t be so mean. The tikkas could be good too.
Today, for some reason, I am inspired to write. Poor you, I know you will have to read. Someone asked me the other day that being an author how can I run them down. Me, an author? You got to be kidding. If Salman Rushdie is an author then I cant be one and if I am an author, then for sure he can’t be one. Author is a big tag, which now people have started wearing freely. Read the posts of some of the authors. “My book is available in Flipkart.” “I am so proud with the fact that my title is at the number third on Amazon.” Believe me, I am not kidding.
This brings me to another hilarious facet—invites. I know I come from an old school of thought where inviting someone meant serious business. My late Grand father and then my father rarely had dinner alone. Even being a routine affair, every single guest, was invited with utmost respect. From serving the most amazing Mughlai Pranthas to Chicken Mussalam to die for or even the Paan in Chandi ka wark, everything had great amount of care and respect for the guest. Invite for bigger events meant going over to their place, handing over the invite, then following up the same over the phone etc. Not because there was more time but inviting someone meant offering him/her all their respect. However, today, courtesy FB, you have to open your friend list and just do ‘select all. And the comedy starts. Congratulatory messages start pouring in, and then the thread gets bigger. People who throw these invites need to be a little sensitive and show a little more compassion in inviting over guests. I also understand that they laundry list of invite is done to generate crowd at the event, to show how rocking you are to generate such a big crowd. But then, I m sure even if this is your motto in life, sensitivity and sensibility should be taken care of.
Today I got one such invite. To this one and all others, which I have received in the past or which I would hit my inbox in the future; You moron, I am not interested in being part of a crowd, singing your praise. I know you are low on self esteem and self respect, I am not. If you really want to have me over, show some respect, so that I could reciprocate the same by being a part of your event. If you think you are too big or busy, go and get yourself fucked.
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