“Wholeheartedly dedicated to rain, gajra, and two women holding their sarees through single safety-pins drenched under the rain, battling with the mud!”
POCKET DIARY BOOK CLUB
MINUTES OF THE MEETING
YEAR 2024
25/08/2024 03:00 PM
Edition No. : 40
Venue: Akshat Drama Group Studio
Facilitators: Nidhi & Priya
Written by: Rohan & Samir
Edited by: Nidhi
This edition is wholeheartedly dedicated to rain, gajra, and two women but in the most
unromantic manner. Women in an utmost attempt to make the edition a hit meanwhile
holding their sarees through single safety-pins drenched under the rain, one battling with the
mud, another running & romanticising those heavy droplets as if there’s no life tomorrow
(Priya), if only Raj Kapoor could see it… minus the umbrella, it was actually barsati (polythene
bag)
સાત પગલાં આકાશમાં by Kundanika Kapadia read by Nija
Vasudha, who got married at 18 and became a mother at 20, dreamt of a world where women
are equally liberated just like men. She imagined the world to be a beautiful single piece
created by God and then spread into multiple pieces. We need to see each piec e connected
to another. She imagined a world where truth is not a preconceived notion and everyone has
a right to find their truth.
Yaar Papa by Divya Prakash Dubey read by Anagha
The reading started with the story of a person(male) who is an advocate by profession and
ambitious. He gets divorced and suddenly the story shifts to two new characters – David and
Priya. The scene being read was, David, who silently likes Priya, has deco rated a room with
balloons, flowers and many other things. He welcomes Priya who is surprised and asks David,
for whom he has decorated this. (As if she didn’t know it). As if women don’t always know
things, but want us to say it out loud.
few lines about love:
“…(love) aisi chij hoti hai jis ke bare mein bahut Kuchh bola jata Hai Lekin fir vah purani ho
jaati hai he
Pyaar karn akaise hai ye toh sab sikha dete hai lekin pyaar ko naya kaise rakhna hai ye koi
nahi sikhata
Pyaar ek prarthna Ki tarah hai jo ki chalti hui train ko bhi rok de
Pyaar ho to aisa ho jo aapko light feel karaen…”
Aur Bhi bahut sari line Thi jiske response Mein Sab Ne Kaha..hmm
Once Anagha completed reading the paragraph, Srijan shared a story about the same book.
He had gifted it to his father, who was always reluctant to read books. Now, a year later his
father keeps asking if Shreejat himself has finished reading it. Every now and then hi s father
shares paragraphs of the book. This was very surprising to Srijan and he was happy about the
turn of events initiated by the gift.
Rubicon by Tom Holland read by Rohan
Rohan talked about Roman history. Mainly about the power struggle between Octavian and
Mark Antony. Octavian was the adopted son of Julius Caesar. It ended with Antony and
Cleopatra’s death. The latter committed suicide through cobra bite, which was considered an
honourable way to take one’s life. Everyone found this very interesting
Gautam then talked about the burning of the library of Alexandria.
The Elements by Euclid read by Gautam
Gautam talks about this book and shares an interesting fact. It’s the second most published
book ever. It contains 5 postulates:
a. Shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line.
b. Two parallel lines will never touch each other.
c. A circle can be drawn with any centre and any radius
d. All right angles are equal to one another
e. If two lines are drawn which intersect a third in such a way that the sum of the inner
angles on one side is less than two Right Angles, then the two lines inevitably must
intersect each other on that side if extended far enough.
He then goes on to talk about how the gutenberg printing press was
invented and the effect it had on the world.
In that moment: Nidhi decided if she were to teach her future kids math
she’d definitely send x.
Tumhari Aukat Kya Hai by Piyush Mishra read by Srijan
Hamlet mumbai kyu nahi gaya?
Unscripted – book suggestion
A Woman is No Man by by Etaf Rum read Jainal
…A story about two women. Isra who’s from Palestine and her daughter. The book had some
interesting notions about life.
Diya her daughter and Diya’s runaway Bua Ji Sara – America
We need stories to protect ourselves from the truth. It is the loneliest people who love books.
To be happy is to play safely…
This led to some interesting discussions, and it was a great segway to the next book.
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse read by Sameer
Sameer ji felt that people would not like this book. Once Sameer ji was done reading it, Nidhi
talked about how when Buddha one night just decided to leave his wife,kid, and the kingdom
the responsibility of the kingdom fell on his wife. So, his actions came from a place of privilege.
Men without women by Haruki Murakami read by Saurabh
Kafuku is an actor who hires a female driver to drive him around. Kafuku’s now dead wife had
cheated on him, and he is struggling with feelings of both betrayal and remorse. He talks to
the driver and this helps him process his feelings. This reminded me o f the movie ‘Green
book’. While the theme is wildly different, the premise of two very different people forming
a bond as they drive was quite similar.
I feel bad about my neck by Nora Ephron read by Aswathy
Aswathy read ‘The purple couch’ from this book.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott read by Yatvi
This is a book about 4 sisters. Other members in the room who had read the book, started
discussing the relationships of the other sisters, and how they found some of them quite
frustrating.
The year of magical thinking by Joan Didion read by Snigdha
Snigdha portrayed the emotions that must have been running through this acclaimed
reporter’s mind, as she very eloquently put forward her experience following her husband’s
untimely death. Gautam said he found the premise of this book very touching and he would
love to read it.
The inheritance of loss by Kiran Desai read by Anushri
This book talks about the lives of Sai and Biju. Sai lives in India, whereas Biju is an
undocumented worker in the United States.
‘सखि, वे मुझसे कहकर जाते’ by Maithili Sharangupt read by Nidhi
‘सखि, वे मुझसे कहकर जाते’ कववता , र ाष्ट्र कवव मैविलीशरण गुप्त की रचना है. यह कववता , उनकी
पुस्तक यशोधरा में है. इस कववता में यशोधरा के स्वाविमानी रूप का वणणन वकया गया है
The recitation of this poem by Nidhi was brilliant. Everyone was listening to it intently,
captivated. It was a poem about the emotional turmoil felt by Yashodhara , Gautam Buddh
who left her and his kid at midnight in search of enlightenment without even informing her
about his departure. She wonders if he thought she would have been an obstacle in his
journey.
___________________________________________________________________________