If you identify yourself with those people who find themselves getting comfortable in the corner of a book store with a copy of their latest finding their hands, basking in the scent of ink and fading old pages, this weekend could very well be your favourite one so far this year. Bengaluru’s very own Book Shop Crawl, a session organized by Books and Brews is back to thrill book lovers with its second edition, much bigger and better this time. Books and Brews is a series of live events and gatherings that brings together a community of interested people for sessions around books, reading and poetry They organize book meet ups, silent reading parties, book shop crawls, spoken word, poetry, workshops, and author meets to keep the momentum going.
What started with a silent reading meet turned into a full fledged session, says Vidhi Kundan Jain of Books and Brews. “If it hadn’t been for the videos and the photos, I still couldn’t have believed it. It is so surreal,” says the curator for the Crawl and founder of Books and Brews India, gratefully, “At the first one held in may last year, we expected about 20 people and about a 170 showed up! We knew then that we could do so much more so here we are!”
The Crawl is set to meet and begin at the iconic Koshy’s restaurant near Church street and will slowly walk into bookstores that have not only shaped reading habits but hold a cache of memories. “I remember as a child, I’d go to Blossoms all the time and it was always such a positive experience. Adults would ask me how I was doing, if I was okay. It was always so encouraging. I’m sure a lot of us feel the same way,” she says nostalgically. The ever popular Blossoms Book store, which is revered as a magic land by many book lovers in the city is one of the first few stops followed by The Bookworm,The Book Room, Goobe's Book Republic, Gangarams Book Bureau and Select Book Shop. The newly renovated Higginbothams is also a stop on the list.
In between reading and picking out books, there will also be live music playing in the background and interactions with the store owners, authors, musicians and Illustrators. Authors Roopa Pai, Shweta Taneja, illustrator Khushnaz Lala, Ben and Prashant on saxophone and percussion from the group Vasudhaiva Ride along with Siddharth Suresh on Harmonica will be present at the session. Aparna Athreya, puppeteer and storyteller with the Bangalore Storytelling Society will also perform at the event. “The whole point is to bring the bookstore to life. To let the characters dance to the music and step into a different world altogether, all in our heads,” she says. Illustrator Khushnaz will also sketch the walk as it happens into a piece that will be on display at the every end.
If you have never been to a book shop crawl and visit, you’ll probably wonder why you never went in the first place, says Vidhi enthusiastically. “After it’s over you’ll ask yourself why you didn’t ever know about this!” she laughs before her voice turns warm, “As we grow up we realize there’s no tooth fairy or Santa Claus but we understand that the capability of imagining them, of imagination, that they gave us is really our greatest treasure.”
What: Book Shop Crawl by Books and Brews
When: Sunday, April 30, 11 am
Where:Koshy's St. Mark’s Road
