Small mercies: How Covid-19 boosted the idea of ‘intimate gatherings’ in Mumbai

At a concert held in an empty space at Bandra's The Simple Brew last November, an artist broke down in the middle of the performance and the audience was with her, in tears. "That was the pure joy of connection. Some of them hadn't stepped out at all for events in the last two years. And a beautiful experience like that was just overwhelming," says Shaik Sheeba, leader of the Mumbai chapter of House Concert Foundation, which curates and organises concerts in closed spaces where independent musicians and singers perform their original compositions.

"Everyone was dying to experience music live and have a shared experience. Due to limited attendance, it was heartbreaking that we couldn't accommodate more. But still it felt great to be physically to be part of the community," she adds.

Intimate gatherings in the form of living room concerts, cosy tea parties, book reading sessions and open-mic events in rented apartments offered interesting opportunities for people to socialise even in pre-pandemic years. However, the pandemic has further boosted this concept of private or small-scale gatherings at rented homes - or co-working spaces - not just in prime locations such as Bandra or town side but also in the suburbs. The perception of such meet-ups has expanded from being an offbeat choice to being the only alternative for socialising safely in a pandemic ridden world.

Such gatherings are now among the most preferred kind of outing for late GenZ and millennials, according to Dishant Goenka, co-founder of Playace.co, a platform for micro social gatherings facilitating users to host and organise parties and meet-ups on an hourly basis. "The demand for such spaces and events has increased multifold as this was the only avenue for socialising safely with Covid-19 restrictions in place," he says. "The way we socialise has changed completely, because now we search for real connections and want to talk to people. We all want to be safe but not miss out on the opportunity to socialise as we humans search for kinship."

Though the desire for socialising grew during the pandemic, it also caused a temporary drop in the number of people attending the sessions, even when the restrictions were initially lifted in 2021.

Nirav Mehta, co-founder of Broke Bibliophiles - Bombay, who organised the group's last offline meet in September 2021, says, "We used to have 25 plus people before Covid and now 10-12 people during Covid-19. This is also because a number of people moved to their hometowns due to work-from-home situations and some relocated to other cities. But, people also hoped for more events in the near future."

Now that the curbs are being lifted, organisers share how the public sentiment regarding small gatherings has evolved in the past two years, challenges involved in planning such events and how they are gearing up for the coming months.

What are people looking for?

As restrictions eased in the latter months of 2021, people were eager to step out of their homes and socialise in real life. Though online meetings replaced closed door physical gatherings, they failed to gain momentum and people looked forward to pre-pandemic-like intimate gatherings as soon as the lockdown was raised.

Offline book reading session held by Broke Bibliophiles Bombay at Khar's Doolally Taproom in September 2021. Image courtesy: Nirav Mehta

"In our September 2021 meet, conversations expanded the scope of books we were reading. It was not just about the books, but also about real life discussions, including the social and political atmosphere of the country," recalls Mehta, adding that the pandemic has also prodded people to read non-fiction books on contemporary issues of health and political dynamics that India is witnessing.

Safety is high among their priorities. In a post-lockdown world, people mainly in the age group of 18 to 35 years are carefully navigating their options of spending time outdoors and are looking for sanitised venues, enquiring about vaccination rules and the number of people attending the meet.

"People generally look for spaces which are safe and are following necessary precautions to stay safe. We are only allowing fully vaccinated people to be part of the experiences hosted on our platform and are encouraging them to disclose if they have any health issues," says Goenka.

Through house concerts, parties, living room tea-parties, and book readings - typically frequented by no more than 20 at a time - people sought to develop real-life connections or spend leisure time with strangers, without having to travel long distances. These events were not only about countering loneliness and boredom, but also about encouraging discussions about life during the pandemic, enabling people to develop a sense of community with fellow city residents, outside the four walls of their rooms.

Gearing up for upcoming events

The pandemic has introduced a number of logistical challenges for the organisers in terms of setting up a meet while following Covid-19 protocols. Finding open spaces with proper ventilation at a time when not many are willing to rent out their rooms and ensuring the guests take necessary precautions with a limited number of volunteers present at the event has added to the hesitation of the organisers to plan consequent events.

A concert hosted by House Concert Foundation in Mumbai in 2021. Image credit: Chinmay Tawade

"Mumbai is the toughest when it comes to real estate with smaller houses and fewer terraces here. We try to find venues/houses with terraces or rooftops. Earlier it was like, ‘Oh hi! You have a living room. Let's do a concert', but now it's a bit more complicated with people being reluctant to host gatherings. Also, now we try to stick to as few crew members as possible," says Shaik.

Goenka observes that while the demand for house parties has increased in the past few months, there have been very few listings for rental spaces on their platform, which is why there haven't been enough rooms available for people to host or conduct such gatherings.

"While finding spaces has become a bit difficult, people have accepted the situation and are not giving up on socialising. However, our focus is on ensuring the gatherings are safer with a limited number of attendees. We also have multiple layers of verifications ensuring the gatherings are safe, secured and pleasant for everyone," he adds.

In addition to tagging locations, vaccination with booster shots is another important factor taken into consideration while planning the dates and schedule. "We have to think a lot about overall logistics, about family vaccinations, parents' conditions before fixing a meet-up. I have to make sure that my parents and I get their booster shots before I plan another meet-up, to avoid any risks to the senior members of the family and to those attending the meet," says Mehta.

After a long pause caused by Covid-19 and experiments with virtual meet-ups, which did not result in an encouraging response, organisers are finally gearing up for real-life gatherings in coming months, once the Omicron threat starts waning.

"People are exhausted with online meet-ups with barely 7-8 people attending such sessions. People are yearning for offline meets. While there's an impact on reading habits due to the boost of OTT platforms during the pandemic, people are still reading a lot of books and that won't change," says Mehta who is planning to conduct a meet in March.

In addition to the attendees, it is also about the enthusiasm of the artists who can't wait to liven up the intimate gathering scene in the city. "It's been an interesting couple of years for the performers. While the livelihood of many artists was under attack, there has also been a spike in the number of independent artists, who went back to their drawing boards and have been producing incredible music. And now that the scene is finally opening up a bit, they can't wait to share their stuff with the world," says Shaik.