Nostalgia | Rufus
Three voracious readers with one aim!
Sharing what
we’ve read!
Sharing what
we read!
Sharing what
we are gonna read!
with the avowed objective of sharing our
reads, and enriching others in the process, and thereby growing together in
this gentle walk on the vibrant road of reading!
Well, it was the first week of November 2017,
when the three ignited minds aka passionate readers, who were delightfully sharing
their reads across whatsapp over a period of time, decided thus:
“What if we
could have a little reading community of like-minded readers, who could share amongst
ourselves all that we read, thereby enriching our reads, and enlarging our horizons
of knowledge? What say?”
As our former President, Dr. Kalam ji says,
“Dream,
Dream, Dream! Dreams transform into thoughts and thoughts result in action.”
He also adds, “for noble actions, you must have noble thoughts!”
Yesss! Our one delightful, noble thought, soon got itself
beautifully translated into noble action!
And soon enough was born a vibrant, beautiful
and an amazing community of readers under the banner of a lovely WhatsApp group
titled, “Readers’ Rendezvous”!
Through this petit yet powerful reading
group, our aim was to establish a knowledge bank, or a knowledge repertoire or
a knowledge powerhouse that derives its nourishment and succour from the most
vibrant of skills – READING!
A delightful and a lovely conclave of
excellence, and an amazing paradise of knowledge galore to readers!
Very soon, readers of all hues were added in such
quick succession, and the community was teeming with such vibrant thoughts and
ideas, over fervent discussions and dynamic threads that was akin to having a
gigantic university of learning amidst us, or should I say, a University of
Reading!
The three vibrant admins of the group, made
sure the reading frenzy was intact, and sustained itself, by organising
frequent events on the group.
Reading Challenges were held, and publishers
were added. Publishers went ahead and even sponsored prize money of Rs. 2000/-
for the winner of every Readers’ Challenge Round!
Saturday nights were meant for exclusive
debates and panel discussions with moderators and participants who discussed
such interesting academic issues on this vibrant blended learning platform.
Committed groupies took the onus on themselves
to focus on contributing something from what they found interesting on the
reading front, and hence was born a range of interesting series. Some of them
are –
The Joy of
Reading Series,
The PG
Wodehouse Series,
The Monthly
Readers’ Challenge,
Author of
the Day Series,
Morning
Mantra Season 1, Season 2 Series,
Night Audio
Watch Series,
Book Story
Series,
Bed-time Literary
Ruminations Series,
Shape of
iDeas by Grant Snider Series,
E-books
Series,
Literary
Theory and Criticism Series,
Tri-part
Series on Bioregional Studies,
Yet a Little
More About Literature Series,
Infinite
Discourses Series,
Galleries
from the Past Series,
Wanna be a
Tharooraurus Series,
Abe Lincoln’s
Anecdotes Series,
Quotes
Extraordinaire Series,
E-Newspapers
and magazine Series,
The Other
Side Series,
Infographics @
RR Series,
Connect the
Dots Series,
Critical
Terms for the Literary Soul Series,
Digging
wit(H) RR Series, et al.
The beauty of all these series is that,
groupies took time off their busy routines and commented on the threads, and made the
posts and series very lively and interactive all along.
These wonderful initiatives so enriched and nourished
one another, through our little little shares, cute comments, profound
observations, witty remarks, lovely appreciations, beautiful illustrations,
insightful opinions, etc etc and thereby served to bring out the rich potential
within us all!
Groupies who had been to Literature
Festivals, or Book Fairs, Book Stores, etc., gave a live feed/commentary on the
vibrant events/books/people they met with, along the way, and made sure they
shared of their joys on the group as well.
The only sine qua non to be a groupie on this
Garden was this:
Groupies should on no occasion remain
passive! Cos it was unanimously decided that, Vibrancy will be our hallmark,
all of the time!!!
Admins had already decided that a maximum
relaxation for passivity might be given for a week’s time! Beyond which, passive
groupies might be quietly removed without much ado! No explanations asked or
given!
Over a period of time, many groupies from all
parts of India, were added on the group, and they replenished the group with
their delightful reads.
The group was gaining much celebrity status
over the days, weeks and months. Budding novelists were added, Famous
Correspondents and Editors of the leading English dailies were added, reputed publishers
were added! Right from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, litterateurs of all hues found a
place on this lively garden of readers!
When a book was discussed on the group, such
was the enthusiasm among groupies, that, within no time they ordered it online
for themselves and soon gave a succinct review of their reads too!
In no time, the group branched up, spread its
luminous wings, and I am extremely happy to note that, as many as 16 reading
groups have come up as a result of our attempt at launching a platform teeming
with such a delightful reading community.
At a time and age when reading has taken a
beating, it is only a matter of immense pride to note that, our reading group
is growing and growing by leaps and bounds!
From being a cherubic toddler this past year,
our rolly polly reading group is turning one at the stroke of midnight tonight.
And what an amazing journey it has been thus far.
Well, yes! although with a sad heart, admins
had to wield the eject button to rein in passive groupies at times, (yes! 210
groupies had to be given a sad exit, cos of sustained passivity) still, the
reading community is gaining such a passionate momentum and is on a tremendous
upswing over the past few weeks!
On this delightful occasion, let me thank all
our committed, delightful groupies – past and present, who have enriched and
nurtured this vibrant reading community with their lively reads and shares all
along!
For making our amazing reading garden so
memorable, we extend our personal, heartfelt thanks to you all.
We at Readers’ Rendezvous sincerely believe
that, a reading community shouldn’t be huge on the numbers!
We've always felt that, a reading commune should
be huge on thoughts, should be huge on ideas, should be huge on meaningful
interactions, should be huge on thought-provoking discussions, should be huge
on positive energy, should be huge on appreciating other groupies, and finally,
should be huge on their reading quotient.
As one of our admins Prof. Prem rightly put
it, We @ Rendezvous, ‘Read and Grow Together’!
What an amazing premise that fits our group
to a tee!
On the eve of the first anniversary of our lively reading group, “Readers’ Rendezvous”, here’s wishing our delightful Readers’
Garden many many many more eventful years of reading in a vibrant, dynamic
community of readers of all hues and colours!
Viva la Readers’ Rendezvous!
Viva la Readers!
Love,
Admins @ Readers’ Rendezvous
Prem/Rasheeda/Rufus
