On a bright Sunday morning last week, a group of people armed with books and mats entered the pristine premises of VMRDA Central Park. Scattered across a section of the park, they settled down in the shade of the towering trees and lounged on a mat to read in silence for the next couple of hours. The only sound breaking the silence was the rhythmic call of the koel and the faint rustle of dry leaves on the ground as people trickled in.
M Pravallika, a Pharm D student, entered the park with a book and mat at around 9am. Finding a spot in the shade of a tree, she sat down and pulled out the book The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. A water bottle and a snack box at her side, she spent the next two hours immersed in the book. Next to Pravallika was another reader glued to her Kindle, reading the same book coincidentally.
This was the first gathering of Vizag Reads, a silent reading community curated by Shireen Meher, a business consultant, and Meghana Gorli, a final year student of Pharm D, who were inspired by Cubbon Reads in Bengaluru and wanted to start a chapter of the initiative in Visakhapatnam
The weekend book reading initiative started by two friends at Cubbon Park in Bengaluru has turned into a worldwide silent reading movement in less than six months with more than 30 chapters across various cities in India and around 15 internationally. It even won praise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently. Each chapter is run independently by local volunteers.
Vizag Reads is going to be a weekly occurrence from 9am to 11am every Sunday at VMRDA Central Park. Visakhapatnam has a handful of book clubs wherein participants read and discuss pre-decided titles and authors. But at Vizag Reads, one can bring any reading material of their choice, even a newspaper or research paper. Audio books in any language are also welcome. There is no compulsion to meet or greet anyone. One can simply walk in to the park, settle down and read. Post the session, some attendees gather for a group photo with their books.
Shireen, a business consultant, was in Bengaluru for four years and found a thriving book reading culture there. “When I found Cubbon Read’s viral reel on Instagram, I loved how they brought people together for the love of reading while preserving the beauty of silence. It has no restrictions or prerequisites to be part of the community; you simply need to show up with a book. That’s how simple a community needs to be in order to make people from all walks of life be part of it,” says Shireen. She messaged Cubbon Reads to find curators in Visakhapatnam. “The founders of Cubbon Reads, Harsh Snehanshu and Shruti Sah, encouraged me to start the local chapter. With their help and teaming together with Meghana, Vizag Reads hosted its inaugural session on June 18.”
To be a part of Vizag Reads, you do not have to be a reader. You can simply walk in and settle down with a sketchbook. Poornima Emandi, an architect who participated in the first meet of Vizag Reads, spent the two hours capturing the serene greens of her surrounding in her sketchbook.
There were some who came from distant locations to attend the first meetup of the community. N Purushottam, who covered nearly 25 kilometres from Kurmanapalem to reach the park, spent three hours of uninterrupted time with the day’s edition of The Hindu newspaper.
The inaugural meetup had attendees as young as three years old, who attended with their parents. For Gayathri Sreeramaneni, reading in the lap of Nature along with her eldest child was “simply blissful”. “It was wonderful to have a community of readers. I could spend a couple of hours of stillness without digital interference. My eight-year-old will surely enjoy being surrounded by people coming together to collectively do what they love,” she says.
“As someone in their 20s living in Visakhapatnam with most friends and acquaintances living away, I wish there were more spaces like in bigger cities where you walk in to meet people with similar interests and mindsets. As a book lover myself, I’d love to go to a park and read in silence, meet people with shared interests. With Vizag Reads, I want to bring people together for the love of reading and if we succeed, the community will grow by itself,” adds Shireen.
Meet-ups of Vizag Reads happen every Sunday at VMRDA Central Park, near RTC Complex, from 9am to 11am. Vijayawada Reads sessions happen every Sunday from 7am to 10am at KDGO Colony Park.
