KOCHI: Every Sunday evening, a clutch of people meet under the canopy of green cover at Kunnara Park near Vyttila to pore over their favourite books. For two hours, the Kaniyampuzha River which flows nearby is witness to a slew of worlds emerging from this quiet corner of Kochi. Fantasy, romance, crime thrillers… you name it, it’s all there.
Formed in 2023, Kochi Reads is a small community of book readers built in a similar vein as Cubbon Reads, a successful reading group in Bengaluru.
The community was started by Gopika Manjusha, a freelance artist based in Kochi who’s also an avid reader. “There is a general notion that youngsters today are not taken to books as their previous generations. So, sitting in an open space with a book and not tinkering on your phone is perceived as a ‘show off’. I wanted to break that perception. We wanted to show that the act of reading in public is very ‘normal’, as it has always been,” says Gopika.
“We meet every weekend. It’s a very friendly space. I feel encouraged to visit not just to read, but also to meet fellow book lovers,” says Anjali Anil, an HR professional from Tripunithura.
Kochi is not new to book clubs and reading communities. But unlike the others, which now have strayed far from the actual process of reading but instead dabble in ‘debates and discussions’, Kochi Reads turns the focus back onto the page.
“At Kochi Reads’ meetings, we just love the silence. People join us at the meets to be with themselves. Nobody forces you to talk and that gives everyone an equally comfortable space,” says Siddharth Narayan, a 20-year-old from Aluva who has not missed a session.
This is presumably why the group has more youngster participation than other reading communities, points out Vasil, a businessman and avid reader who’s part of a few book clubs in the city.
That’s also not to say that the evening activity is a siloed affair. After the reading session, which lasts two hours, everyone huddles around to discuss the books they were reading and meet new joiners. “With this community, I got exposed to more genres. The weekly discussions are enlightening and the entire group is quite special,” says Rishikesh Bhat.
It’s been only a few months since the group shifted their meetings to Kunnara Park. Initially, the group used to meet at Central Park in Panampilly Nagar. There’s no permanent membership for this community, which is open to all.
In the future, the community is looking forward to giving space to authors and poets to come and discuss their works.
Kochi Reads announces its next programmes via its Instagram page @kochireads, which now has more than 16,000 followers.