Shelf Life with Mid-Day: How readers become friends at this unconventional book club in Mumbai

When Vidhya Thakkar conceived the book club Mumbai Bookstagram with her friend Siddhi, she knew it had to be unconventional. The duo started out with an aim to coalesce a mass of readers under one roof. But, the extraordinary factor about the club was to not just discuss books but to find lifetime companionship over common pursuits and the banality of life.

Founded in 2019, Mumbai Bookstagram is a thriving book club with regular meetups in the city's iconic book shop Title Waves in Bandra West. Born in the times of Covid-19, the club's bond bloomed seamlessly over digital connections. Whizz-kids of the club ideated quizzes, contests and engaging literary games to keep the passion flowing.

Not your ordinary book club

The club was conceptualised as a recreational space bound with no topical limits. With the binding factor being the love for reading, the members became fond of the ‘free-flowing' conversations. The topics of discussion were versatile and struck those chords that touched upon the everydayness of life. The club prides itself in never fixing a ‘Book of the month' and not sticking to traditional proceedings of a book club. The members find joy in curating engaging activities for the club.

‘Word Muddle' is one such brain-child of the club. A month-long game, it involves readers to scan words out of a maze of alphabets. Once they spot a word, for instance, ‘read', they are in for a reading safari of books starting with each alphabet the word contains. Whoever finishes the challenge first is the winner and is awarded a signed copy from the participating publishers.

The book club has evolved as a family of 80+ members owing to its witty ways of engaging readers. As opposed to the usual drill of announcing books before a meetup, this club churns out of the box initiatives to spark the reader's imagination. One such initiative was ‘Book Block Train' which involved pan-Indian readers to write articles on their blogs or websites on select themes.

The first in-person meetup of the club took place at Title Waves on May 1 in 2022. When it comes to offline meetups, the caravan has travelled to multiple events including the Jaipur Literature Festival held from January 19-23.

Diverse readers under one roof

Mumbai Bookstagram thrives on an eclectic mix of readers. All the members of the club are Mumbaikars coming from different spheres of life: A teacher from Dombivali, a student from Palghar, a doctor from Navi Mumbai, a scientist from Malad and many more from diverse backgrounds. The mix paves the way for a versatile gathering with each bringing a new flavour to the table. The group has turned into a family that comes together for festivities on Diwali, secret Santa gifting, and books exchange activities.

The club is a grooming space for young and self-published authors who wish to establish their name in the world of writing. Here, they find the right support from their fellow readers who share feedback and improvise their skill. Along with this, they discuss the deeper nuances of genres, reflections of their life and professional pursuits.

Vidhya shares that her vision is to expand the book club with free thinking beings. She aspires to create a platform for those who wish to be free and not be defined too easily. Her desire is that the conversations should evolve organically from books and touch upon anything and everything under the sun.

When the club sits down to discuss, they end up breezing through 5-6 hours of jovial conversations. With topics ranging from old scriptures to old books to Bollywood, there really is no lid to the ever-evolving agenda of the meetup. Vidhya gets candid and shares that this book club has given her friends that she can rely on for life.

Vidhya the voracious reader

Vidhya is a maverick with many feathers to her cap. Along with running the book club, she is a voracious reader and a reviewer who is already on her 35th book of 2023. Her target to finish ‘one book a day' is enough to flinch the most accomplished readers. At the stroke of midnight, her reading adventures begin and as the dawn approaches, she puts down another read from her inventory.

Apart from the exploits of flipping pages, Vidhya is a full-time social media strategist. She works with authors, brands and wellness coaches to build their digital luminosity. She works with publishers as well to curate campaigns around books. Some of the engaging campaigns she works on are ‘Book Review' sessions and author-influencer meetups.

Vidhya is big on Indian mythology, romance and self-help books. With an intention to keep her head space positive, she likes to indulge in books that grow her inner sensibilities. When she is undergoing a reading glum, she likes to revisit books that she has read previously. "Whenever I feel that my day is getting heavy, I pick up books that are my comfort zone. It feels refreshing and soothing to go through an older read."

Her musings involve poetry and a new-found love for journaling. She encourages her followers to jot down their thoughts as it can be a therapeutic experience. In one of her most successful campaigns called "30 Day Positivity", the participants had to write one sentence that motivated them throughout the day. The campaign gained international patronage and slowly began to echo in the global reading and writing community.

On finding her true escapade

Vidhya's tryst with books began in her yester years when she parted ways with a dear friend. In an unspirited walk around the corner, she ran into a bookshop. The shop specialised in second-hand books only. Call it her destiny or the play of stars, the bookseller found a lost girl and decided to illuminate her path. He suggested her two reads that would help her overcome the grief of losing a friend:

The One You Cannot Have by Preeti Shenoy

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

This incident got Vidhya hooked to reading and she turned into an earnest Bibliophile. She kept going back to the book shop to quench her never-ending appetite for reading. Every second day, she would finish a book and return to seek more stories and knowledge. As they say, a book is the best way to travel without moving, she had found her escapade.

It was serendipitous for Vidhya to find her true self in the world of books. As her name suggests "knowledge" in Hindi, her affinity towards reading was a happenstance that was meant to unfold and save her from dejection. Now, she can always be found with a book no matter which city she is in. So much so that she turned it into a campaign of reading and talking about city centric books.

Rapid fire round with Vidhya:

Ainie: Paperback or Kindle?
Vidhya: Kindle
Ainie: Books or Movies adapted from books?
Vidhya: Books
Ainie: Be a writer or a reader in future?
Vidhya: Reader
Ainie: Fiction or Non-fiction
Vidhya: Fiction

Vidhya recommends:
Shakuni: Master of the Game by Ashutosh Nadkar
Urmila: The Forgotten Princess by Smriti Dewan
Shivshakti: The Continuous Continuum by Anita Rajani
Take a Chance on Me by Sapna Bhog

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