It’s a chill Saturday evening at Gurugram’s Unlocked bar, and performance and behavioural change specialist Chhavi Singh Raghuvanshi is breaking down the human brain to an audience sipping margaritas and snacking on nachos. The mic crackles, the slides freeze, but she moves through neuroplasticity, neuroception, and even detours into existentialism without losing stride. This is not a classroom but a new social norm — bar lectures where evenings are spent geeking out, a trend born in the US, now taking off in Delhi NCR.
Unlecture, founded by Sonalika Aggarwal, Mishka Lepps and Kezia Anna Mammen, friends and graduates of St. Stephen’s, hosts talks every weekend across the NCR. “We wanted a casual, friendly space that disrupts the typical lecture format, the ones outside campus, that can feel sterile and intimidating,” they say.
Unlecture also draws inspiration from the US-based Lectures on Tap. “Delhi is a cultural hub, but what was missing was informality. At a seminar, even stepping out makes you overthink. At a café or bar, you’re relaxed. That ease didn’t exist in learning spaces,” says Lepps. After countless sleepovers and planning sessions, the trio launched Unlecture’s first event in August. Four months later, they’ve crossed 9,000 followers and have a packed November calendar — with every session selling out within days.
For the geeks
While the setting might suggest otherwise, bar lectures aren’t about hitting the bar. Swati Bajaj, who runs Pint of View, Noida, insists most people don’t even order alcohol. “The majority ask for mocktails or coffee. They’re actually taking notes at these nerdy lectures — even in a bar,” she laughs.
Launched in October this year, the Noida chapter is part of Pint of View, a pan-India initiative started by the creators of Cubbon Reads — a silent reading movement that began in Bengaluru’s Cubbon Park — Harsh Snehanshu and Shruti Sah, along with software engineer Meghna Chaudhary. Begun in Bengaluru, they also have three NCR editions — Delhi, Gurugram, and Noida. The Pint of View, Delhi chapter curated by Ayushi Misra and Anmol Grace had its first lecture ‘The Lost Art of Looking at Yourself’ in August, with boudoir photographer Mozail.
Bajaj, a financial consultant, says she started the Noida chapter largely motivated by the absence of intellectual spaces in the city. “People want to learn. Even on weekends, they don’t want to go to the same bar and drink the same alcohol. They want something extra.” Their next lecture on December 6 will feature classical singer and music director Runki Goswami on the science of ragas.
In Gurugram, Khushi Goel, a freelance science communicator, curates Pint of View along with Shubham Singh. “We’re looking for niche, rigorous topics with fresh angles,” she says. The Gurugram chapter’s first lecture in October focused on unveiling hidden evolutionary history in plant DNA with molecular biologist Dr. Swati Singh. The next lecture is scheduled for November 23 and will explore how antibiotic exposure fuels the rise of drug-resistant infections, presented by Dr. Esmita Charani, a professor at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
The rise of informal learning
Lectures are usually associated with formality but these talks break that rigidity, inviting residents to be curious amidst laughter, lounge seating and a drink in hand, making conversations more approachable. Who’s attending? Students, working professionals, academics, and people who simply want to listen without feeling out of place. And everyone agrees the magic lies in the informality of the venue. Says Sonalika Aggarwal of Unlecture: “Research shows our brains learn best when we’re relaxed and comfortable. Pair that with learning, and it becomes something genuinely powerful.”
Goel adds that the setting naturally helps people unwind — there’s no pressure to come in as an expert, no sense that anyone will be judged. “Everyone’s here for the same thing: curiosity,” she says.
“Honestly, the best part about these evenings is that halfway through, everyone is fully into it,” says Gopikrishnan Nair, who curates Nerd Nites in Delhi. He points out that bars historically have been sites of political and intellectual debate. “Instead of discussing ideas among ourselves, we bring in an expert. After one session, when I stepped out to the smoking area, everyone was still talking — breaking down different parts of the talk,” he adds.
Unlike other events that feature 45-minute talks followed by 15 minutes of questions, Nerd Nites adopts a different format: each event showcases three experts speaking on three different topics for about 20 minutes each, TED Talk style. Founded in 2003 in the US, Nerd Nites arrived in Delhi this July, led by Nair and his colleagues Bidisha Mahapatra and Anandita Lidhoo, who works at Centre for Social and Behaviour Change, under Ashoka University.
He says the aim is simple: to “make nerds cool again”, while also offering the perfect post-work weekday plan. “We do it on Thursday evenings. You walk in after work, grab a beer, listen to a fun talk, and you’re home by 10. It’s engaging without being heavy, like watching a YouTube show.”
Making friends
“Maybe this is the lecture we always wanted in school or college but never got,” says Ishita, a regular at Unlecture. She also treasures the social side. “You meet people who love learning. You get great conversations. Life gets monotonous — meeting people with different interests changes that.”
That evening, she had already made a friend — Airi, a consultant who recently moved from Japan. “I came alone and was scared,” Airi admits. “I’m a foreigner, I don’t know anyone. But everyone was welcoming.”
While the audience enjoys the freedom of informality, the setting shapes the speaker’s experience just as much. Chavvi Singh, who often conducts sessions in corporate boardrooms, says a bar completely changes the setup. The venue also loosens her up as a speaker. “I’m switching between Hindi and English a lot more. I can get casual laughs. I can dress differently — I’ve never worn a dress to a session before,” she laughs.
Public historian Anirudh Kanisetti, who has spoken at Pint of View and Nerd Nites, Delhi, echoes this. “People feel freer to ask questions. I enjoy being able to joke around and be irreverent. An informal setting makes it easier to talk about harder, complex ideas.”
For him, these events reintroduce the human element into learning by reducing expectations and judgement. “By making the professor your friend, your drinking buddy — you’re telling people they don’t need to sift through academic terms or online misinformation. Just go to a bar, have a drink and talk to an expert. No one’s judging you. This person-to-person sharing of knowledge is how humanity has always advanced.”
(More details: @pintofview.club, @theunlecture, and @nerdnitedelhi on Instagram)