On a bustling Saturday evening at Café Ababeel in Wazir Bagh, Srinagar, a group of women gather to discuss Kate Chopin’s A Pair of Silk Stockings. The Reading Circle, which began in June as an experiment by Maumil Mehraj, brings together professionals, mothers, retirees and schoolgirls—a cross-generational community of Kashmiri women reading, reflecting and talking about literature, life and themselves.
Maumil, a literature student, says the idea grew from missing the conversations that often happen only in classrooms. “A bigger part of reading is discussing what you read,” she says. “Everybody interprets the text according to their experiences. I’m not at an age where I’m in a classroom anymore, and I was missing that space. So, I wanted to create it.”
The beginning was modest. “In our first two sessions, two or three people showed up,” she recalls. Instagram helped the circle to draw women from different walks of life. For 30-year-old Zeenish Imroz, the weekly meetings have become a source of motivation. “When I see women around me who are so empowered and knowledgeable, it gives me the strength to work harder on myself,” she says.
The circle selects short texts, choosing works that can speak to Kashmir, women or conflict sensitivity. Conversations may begin with literature and wander into thinkers such as Michel Foucault and Hannah Arendt, or the work of Kashmiri author Nayeema Mahjoor.
Maumil knows that creating such a space can invite criticism, especially because it’s built by women. But she refuses to be deterred. “The people who come to the reading circle come from a space of abundance,” she says. Her ambition is to inspire others to create similar spaces. “I hope people come up and start opening chapters of this in their own districts... It’s still a long way to go,” she smiles, “but baby steps.”
