Novel initiative in city to kindle interest in reading successfully completes a decade

Mysore/Mysuru: To mark a decade of its establishment, the Mysuru Book Clubs will launch a ‘Writer’s Club’ exclusively for women this year. The Mysuru Book Clubs officially called ‘Mysuru Book Clubs-2015 (Estd.) began in principle in 2012 and opened its doors for membership in 2015.  

The Club has so far initiated book clubs for ages 3 to 80 years to kindle interest in reading. These Book Clubs have also been extended to orphanages, slums, schools housing differently-abled children and senior citizen’s homes.

Speaking to Star of Mysore, Founder of Mysuru Book Clubs Shubha Sanjay Urs said that the Writer’s Club  will be a place for writers and aspiring writers to learn the craft of writing.

“The Writer’s Club proposes to encourage more women to write and it will start with various writing exercises which will help them channel their thoughts and put them into words in a way that satisfies their creativity. It will lead up to writing a journal, a short story or a piece of poetry, giving the participants a taste of what it feels like to be a published author,” Shubha said. Details of the Writer’s Club will soon be shared on the website  https://www.mysuruliteraturefestival.com/ 

“On completion of a decade and stepping into our 11th year, we have ushered in the New Year with a new concept called ‘Monthly author meets and talks’. The first of this series was held recently at Bopy’s Restaurant in their outdoor area,” she added.

“The discussion started with acknowledging what the COVID-19 pandemic had collectively done to us as a group: The desire to maintain the status quo and remain in one’s own social bubbles. We started the discussion by floating the idea that we should all get out of our comfort zones and venture out to do something new or do something we have avoided doing,” Shubha Sanjay Urs said.

The year’s activity began with “Tara and Sandy: Slow Dance of Infinite Stars” by Sita Bhaskar (sitting fourth from right – front row) where she spoke about co-authoring the book with Sabarna Roy, someone she had never met.

Shying away from the idea initially when Sabarna Roy approached her to write the book with him, she got out of her comfort zone and agreed to be his co-author. The freedom she found in this new approach made her tell her audience not to box themselves into the true-and-tried boundaries but venture forth and push limits, one step at a time.

It is a book of letters exchanged by two school friends who briefly meet at the airport and exchange their mail addresses and years later they start writing to each other. It is a beautifully crafted book where letters go back and forth where Tara and  Sandy exchange and share their life stories interspersed with philosophy, bad marriage and relationships.

In an age where letter writing has gone out of style, this book brings in a fresh breath of air. Sita read out interesting parts of the letter and made the members of the Club ask: Did Tara and Sandy ever meet?