The discussions of the California reading group are based on books or films that are chosen out of consensus.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In October 2023, reading clubs across the world came to learn of a Venice-based reading club named The California Reading Group finishing reading the Finnegans Wake by James Joyce. That was not news per se but what was is the time it took them to do it — a lavish 28 years.
The members of the club, mostly literature scholars, had sat through offline and Zoom meetings to reach the last page of the book they began in 1995. The reason given was the book was one of its kind in literary history. But avid readers believe the inability to find time for reading sessions too could have added to the book to be read for longer than it took to write it.
Such slowdowns in reading habits have had an impact on readers forums in the state too. “The Vayanashala movement and the presence of cultural and literary groups have always been a part of Kerala society. But from the 1990s, this was slowly fading. Several factors can be pointed as reasons for this — globalisation, changed priorities, et al.,” says Sam Paul Raju, a journalism student at the University of Kerala.
The White Rose began in 2020 to fill such gaps, he says. The community was started by him and a group of students “to connect” during the long months of lockdown and isolation wreaked upon by the pandemic.
Soon, the group swelled and discussions also encompassed films and books. Many, meanwhile, completed their education yet preferred to stay put in the group. Some have even launched branches of the White Rose in their hometowns.
As for the home branch, the White Rose broke free from the hybrid mode and began regular offline monthly meetings at a facility in Bakery Junction in October 2023.
The mode of meetings might have changed but the way it functions remains the same, according to three members of the team who were in the community from the start — Sam, Emil Biju of Nedumangad Government College and Govind Sasi, a law graduate. The discussions are based on books or films that are chosen out of consensus.
“We would critically analyse the works. And it is a democratic space free of any kind of biases. We have members from across political and other social spectra and hence the ideas too are as varied as they are vivid,” Sam says. For example, the group discussed the works of Vayalar Rama Varma, whose emotionally loaded lyrics are part of Malayalam’s evergreen stock of film songs.
“The discussion was about a song Thankabhasma kuriyitta thampuratti ninte thinkalazhcha noyambu innu mudakkum njan. We went deep into the gender question hidden in the lyrics and contrasted it to the current times. It makes us think and share ideas freely,” says Sam, adding the collective has organised drama workshops too and film screenings and is planning more such activities in the coming days.
A similar group which begs a uniqueness in character is Trivandrum Reads, deftly modelled on the Cubbon Reads community of Bangalore, the first of the collectives of ‘silent readers’.
“There are book clubs which read books and encourage discussions over it. But there are also readers who would rather share the company of readers silently. Our group is for them,” says Benny Baburaj, a technical writer based in Kochi, who began the group with a few others in June 2023.
Trivandrum Reads meets every Saturday at Museum where 30-odd readers get together with their books and read from 8am to 10.30pm. “After this, we share our friendship over a cup of tea or coffee and click photos,” says Benny.
Groups such as these and others like ‘Tatvika Avalokanam’ and ‘Uninked Poetry’ seem to be on the road to reviving the state’s tradition of literary and cultural camaraderie that Sam had found fading away till some years ago. A reading reniassance is upon us.
