Monday, 19 November 2018

Readers of all hues... Unite!

A Rich Tribute to the Joys of Reading!

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,

Prem/Rasheeda/Rufus

1 comment:

  1. RR is such a lovely garden, where all groupies are growing by leaps and bounds. A true observation sir.an enriching experience with RR, my resuming creativity and reading experience as a lovely thread connecting every flower with variant fragrance. Much blessed to be part of this Garden of liveliness and loveliness. Thank you Dr. Rufus, thank you all admins and the vibrant contributors. Beulah

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