“Theme: ‘Something light’. Irony: All the books wore dark shades, sitting shadily, waiting for their turn to haunt and shock!”
POCKET DIARY BOOK CLUB
MINUTES OF THE MEETING
YEAR 2024
dd/mm/2024 08:45 PM
Edition No. : 36
Venue: Akshat Drama Group Studio
Facilitators: Bharath & Priya
Written by: Meghna
Edited by: Priya
Theme: “Something light”
Irony: All the books wore dark shades, sitting shadily, waiting for their turn, to haunt, to shock, all of
them, together and ready to create 50 shades of grey, without any props.
1 week before the edition, after having dunk a cup of c offee, a rush of magic/insomnia and Priya
dialled Bharath’s number at 1 am at night and said, ‘Are you awake? Come to the studio, let’s make a
magazine.’
Magazine बचपन की यादें + books + reader = Edition 35
Magazine Team Work: Priya Sogani, Bharath Saiguhan, Chirag, Dhairya & Team
Cover: Childhood pictures of all the members who attended the 35th edition
Did you get your bookscope of the month?
• Aswathy Gopinath ~ Amanda – Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
• Abhiraj Patel ~ Soorajmukhi – Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
• Jay Thakkar ~ Ganpath – Circe by Madeline Miller
• Mitesh Mishra ~ Bholuram – Man ek Meli Kameez He by Bhavaniprasad Mishra
• Yogesh Ji ~ Yogi – Zikr
• Nidhi Singh ~ Dheedhee – Susan Sontag On Photography
• Sneha – Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown
• Mantra Bhatt ~ Omar Sharif – The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
• Anagha Lokhande ~ Mona – “After Life” by Joan Didion (KINDLE)
• Chandni – Champa ~ Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin
• Meghna Mukherjee ~ Mastiii – Oh Dear Sylvia by Dawn French
• Harshita Singh ~ Hershey’s = Demain by Hermann Hesse
• Rajarshi Modi ~ Banku – The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell (KINDLE)
• Keyur – Walden by Henry David Thoreau
• Divya Jain ~ Divts – The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
• Bharath ~ Manoj Kumar – Chasing the Monsoon
1. Aswathy Gopinath aka Amanda read Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.
“Been Sitting on the sidewalk”
“Here poor thing…”
“I’m not homeless”
“Returns the pennies”
“I’ve been married in London”
“What are you going to London FOR?”
“I’ve got a job”
‘‘Poor thing’ I think
Giggles around
‘Isn’t it interesting? It has Several Layers of torture’, adds Ashwathy
I focus upon Ashwathy reading, instead of what she was reading for a fraction, I see how she reads
while making eye contact with everyone, with splendid modulations.
“You get torture, you get loved” <3.
‘Death IS the Happy-Ending’, says Mantra! – TRUE!
2. Abhiraj Patel aka Soorajmukhi reads Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
Abhiraj addresses the readers, ‘What do you do, right before you leave home?’
We were supposed to write the answers on a Post-it note, while scribbling, the conversation segued to
‘WRONG-ANSWERS-ONLY’.
Abhiraj started reading, while I made Priya and Bharath peek into my answers, and
they requested everyone to then tell their answers out loud, the answers were
• Light
• Keys
• Windows
• Phone OwO
“I regret to leave the house immediately, while panicking”
Mantra mentions how he forgot his phone back home, went back to collect it and slept instead.
‘The answer to it is 42’ says Bharat, – Hitchhiker’s Guide reference, I controlled my fangirl screaming voice
immediately and started writing.
‘The protagonist had forgotten to turn the Gas, and he was calculating every penny which he has to pay
against it’
Relatable
2. Jay Thakkar aka Ganpath read Circe by Madeline Miller
“Helios and Cerce go through a disagreement”.
Helios is such an Indian Parent…!
“The great watchman of the Sky”
“Helios’s eyes narrowed”
‘IDK I imagine Helios this way.’
“It was my oldest fear, quiet annihilation”
‘Zeus, simply Zeusing’
Then came a surprise – ICECREAM
‘I DID NOT SCREAM’
‘I’m silently checking who bites the Ice-creams and who licks, mentally creating a team.’
4. Mitesh Mishra aka Bholuram – मन एक मैली कमीज है by Bhavaniprasad Mishra
Poetry: सन्नाटा
“कभी-कभी कु छ मुझमें चल जाता है,
कभी-कभी कु छ मुझमें जल जाता है;
जो चलता है, वह शायद है मेंढक हो,
वह जुगनू है, जो तुमको छल जाता है।…
…यहााँ बहुत ददन हुए एक थी रानी,
इदतहास बताता उसकी नहीं कहानी,
वह दकसी एक पागल पर जान ददए थी,
थी उसकी क े वल एक यही नादानी ।”
Poetry: घर की याद
“आज पानी दगर रहा है,
बहुत पानी दगर रहा है,
रात-भर दगरता रहा है,
प्राण मन दिरता रहा है,…
…और मााँ दबन-पढी मेरी,
द ुुःख में वह गढी मेरी,
मााँ दक दजसकी गोद में दसर,
रख दलया तो द ुख नहीं दिर”
https://www.hindwi.org/kavita/ghar-ki-yaad-bhawaniprasad-mishra-kavita?sort=popularity-desc
5.Yogesh Ji aka Yogi – Zikr: In the Light and Shade of Time by MuzaffarAli.
Yogesh Ji found this excerpt in one of the Reading Room sessions at
the studio.
‘Has an influence from Rumi’
“Where the heart will rule the head”
“Poetry of silence”
“Breaking open the doors”
https://www.knocksense.com/lucknow/154-years-old-amir-ud-daula-public-
library-is-a-jewel-in-the-crown-of-lucknows-history
A discussion happened on the Qaiserbagh heritage, the Amir-ud-Daula public library opposite the palace
and its history.
Priya mentions reading IRRFAN. Someone mentions, the only actor close to his grandeur is “Daniel Day
Lewis”, I don’t agree or disagree. Priya quotes the part of the book where Irrfan was flying a Kite, I
thought ‘Whether the kite would be guided through air or would just be up-in-the air’.
6. Nidhi Singh aka Dheedhee reads On Photography by Susan Sontag.
“To photograph is to confer importance”
“How do you call a photograph beautiful or ugly?”
7. Sneha read Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown
“We don’t know how to label the emotions”
“Love
Betrayal
Hurting
Nada…
Nada…
HEARTBREAK.”
“Shame is the BIRTHPLACE of perfectionism” Put it on a T-shirt already.
“Psychology is the mirror to all the horrors”
Priya sings ‘ Ajnabi mujhko itna bata, dil mera kyu pareshaan hai? ’ at night , walking at night, on the
footpath by the highway.
Priya’s T-shirt is the mirror of my internal voice (printed text not for below 18)
8. Mantra Bhatt aka Omar Sharif read The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
“Corps were very well described”
“There is a concept of skinning people alive, casually”
9. Anagha Lokhande ~ Mona – “After Life” by Joan Didion
“Death of somebody you love”
It’s the scariest read so far for me, I can feel myself grieving a bit.’
“Where the parallel lines converge”
10. Chandni ~ Champa read Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin
“Death of the Universe”
“Unsolvable equations”
‘She explains how the bugs must be eliminated’
“Andromeda has 3 suns”
‘Alien did not want to talk, maybe he was Anti-social’.
11. Meghna Mukherjee aka Masti read Oh Dear Sylvia by Dawn French
Does Sylvia die?
-Yes
-No
– We will hope for her death (at the end)’, (Abhiraj).
“I’m a doctor”
“Why do hospitals always represent such a threat to her?”
‘She isn’t a coma doctor’
‘Bharath clicking a picture from his retro film reel wala camera’
‘Did the nurse have a special connection with Sylvia?’
12. Harshita Singh aka Hershey’s read Demian by Hermann Hesse
‘A book about journey from home to boarding school in the middle of
WW1’
“He knows our house better than we did”
“It’s a bird or something of that sort, something ancient”
“They attached the nickname to the name of his family…”
“Most of the stories are valid, but it’s important to look from a different angle”
13. Rajarshi Modi aka Banku read The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
‘Mother Daughter relationship’
“We are waiting for you to come back’, says Clemency”
“Lucy Looks like Martina?”
‘Door are being mentioned for the third time’
“The baby has grown up!”
‘BIG SIGH’
14. Keyur read Walden by Henry David Thoreau
“Philosophising and implementing”
“In respect to Ego, egotism is kept oneself”
“Broken leg is more acceptable over torn out pants.”
Divya Jain aka Divts read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
‘This is epitome of a person enjoying their day’
“It was not easy to stay positive during my cancer treatment”
“The email created hope, in a really dark time”
‘The denial of death’
15. Bharath aka Manoj Kumar read Chasing the Monsoon
‘You follow the monsoon and you (the narrator) travel along.’
‘It’s later part of May, that is about almost right now.’
‘Setup in Monsoon of ‘87’.
***