For better and verse

Manisha Lakhe, one of the founders and moderators of Caferati, says it has remained an indie space for the city’s literature lovers to share their work. Pic/Shadab Khan

Twenty odd years ago, before social media, blogging was picking up pace as a way of sharing stories and information. The online diary was a way of digitally recording one's life for the world to read. In the city, poets, writers, and anyone who wanted to write and share their work could do so through platforms like Live Journal and Blogger.com.

Against this backdrop, Caferati was born. It started as a collective called Bombay Writers Cafe for literary enthusiasts from around the city to share stories, poems, and thoughts online. While many literature enthusiasts collectively ran it, it was later on that writer and editor Peter Griffin, writer Annie Zaidi, and film critic Manisha Lakhe took over in 2004, adopting the name Caferati. Initially, it was hosted on Ryze, a business networking platform, and eventually migrated to Facebook in 2006, where it currently has over 16,000 members.

"The beauty of being online was that you could interact with people at your own time and pace," Griffin, a Vashi resident, tells us over a call. "Soon, however, there was a desire to meet in person." The first meet-up took place in Bandra in July 2004, on a rainy day at Bandstand. Around 10 people showed up. The name Caferati was chosen as a play on the words cafe and literati.

Annie Zaidi and Peter Griffin

Enter Prithvi Theatre, stage right. "The very first open mic was part of Prithvi Theatre's 2008 Celebrating Poetry Festival, a one-off festival held that year. Poet and author Sampurna Chattarji, who was curating it, invited us," says Griffin, who has been blogging since 2003 and has Zigzackly and the South-East Asia Tsunami & Earthquake and Mumbai Help blogs to his credit. "It was wonderful and chaotic and full of energy. (Indian theatre personality) Sanjana Kapoor liked what she witnessed and asked us if we'd like to do this once a month; of course, we said yes." In 2009, the first Caferati@Prithvi took place with poet Ranjit Hoskote "blessing the microphone".

In 2017, they reached the 100 open mics milestone. Numerous chapters in cities such as Pune, Delhi, Jaipur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Goa were hosted now and then by members; and internationally, a few meets were held in Dubai, Singapore, and London. Additionally, Caferati runs a newsletter, hosts paid workshops, and even published a compilation, Stories at the Coffee Table.

Soon, Caferati gained repute as a space for reading poems and stories out for an informed and involved audience that responded with insight and feedback. "We called them read meets. We made poetry relevant in the city," says Manisha Lakhe, who, aside from being a poet and a film critic, is also a columnist. At that time, English poetry was not viewed with as much respect and attention as its Hindi counterpart, and she says Caferati became a space for writers who wrote majorly in English, although now they've broadened their language scope. "It was a meeting of minds," she punctuates.

Initially, 15 to 20 people showed up at the meets; now, there are 30 to 40 members. There are rules: Everyone has to read their own writing, sing their own songs, or tell their own stories. Feedback is to be taken in the spirit of constructive criticism.

Feedback is a crucial part of the founders' work. Whether it's for the open mics or the online forum, moderating the work put out is a challenge. "One of the main challenges is finding a way to keep it equitable and open while adhering to our core purpose - becoming better writers," says Annie Zaidi, who has written the novel Prelude To A Riot and the poetry book Crush. "Feedback must be kind and not personal. Many people want to share their work but are not ready for critical responses. Others are not able to articulate literary critique without fear of offending. Another major challenge is keeping people engaged in the long term."

Lakhe, who has been hosting the open mics every fourth Monday of the month at 7 pm at Prithvi cafe, says that many interesting people and stories have bloomed in the space. The best part is coming together to love literature without having to deal with the formalities of knowing the person beyond their work. "We learned Punjabi because one of the boys used to write beautiful love poetry," she laughs. "Another person became a scriptwriter when a director noticed his verses."

Ask them why the open mics are not yet a profitable venture, like larger platforms today, and Lakhe says they have been reluctant to monetize art. Griffin adds that they are also unsure of the type of business model to adopt.

While it may not have become a Kommune or a Kasa Kai, Caferati, Griffin says, has pushed many people up literary ladders, gaining jobs and recognition. And it's shaped the founders as well. "I have gained more than I have given, not just in terms of perspective on my own writing, or some name recognition, but also in learning how to nurture community, how to give for the sake of giving, of building with no expectation of personal return," Griffin says. While Zaidi is in the UK at present, she says she loved the monthly meet-ups. And for Lakhe, it's simply good fun.