Mark my words

SOUL SPEAK

It’s a cold wintry evening. The India Habitat Centre, Delhi’s favourite cultural hotspot, is dark and desolate.

Then all of a sudden you hear voices from the amphitheatre, and discover a bunch of college students, professionals and parents with little kids huddled together on the stairs. They hold a piece of writing each on bits of papers, notebooks, cell phones, even Ipads, and walk up to the stage one by one. The result--outstanding pieces of poetry, music and mimicry fill the evening air. It’s an open mike. You recite your own work, listen to others’ and go back enriched.

Shikha D (pen name), the young owner of a production house, recited an absolutely beautiful piece of poem called That Red Beetle. A narration of her chance encounter with a young man in a red beetle car, on whom she has a secret crush, won her a standing ovation from the audience. Then there was Sandeep who played a nice number on his guitar and had all the girls around admiring him. Divay recited a poem called Makaan, on how time has reduced his home to just bricks-and-mortar, and left the listeners thinking.

The moderator Danish Husain, who introduces good humour whenever the show gets sentimental, says, “‘The Open Mike’ series is an initiative by the Caferati–an online writers peer forum. It is an avenue for writers to share their writings without fearing any judgemental reactions. After we acquired a huge membership, we felt the need to meet up. We also realised that there weren’t many public spaces where singers, song-writers and novelists who are not established already can meet up and exchange their works. That’s how the concept came up. You have a mike, an audience and two minutes. Hold forth.”

It’s a very participative, inclusive and thereby exciting forum. The audience are the same as the performers and vice-versa. Moreover, since you never know what the next performance would be, there’s never a boring moment. Danish says, “it is about variety, not about quality. Singers, writers and standup comedians all come here to perform. Some are good, some are mediocre, some are bad, but all are welcome.”

Caferati, began with the ‘Open Mike’ series in 2008 at the famous Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai. After it became hugely famous there, Caferati brought it to Delhi as well. At Prithvi, it is held every fourth  Tuesday of the month, while here in India Habitat Centre in Delhi it is conducted every last Friday. Danish announced that the ‘Open Mike’ series is now coming up at the Epicentre mall in Gurgaon as well, where it will be held every second Saturday of the month.

Of all those who spoke at the ‘Open Mike’ series, held recently in the City, the youngest to participate were Gunjas and Ganeev Singh. Gunjas, a Std VII student recited a beautifully written and thought provoking poem on corruption, while his younger brother Ganeev of Std III held forth on a monkey outside his classroom through his poem.

The audience loved them and they loved the ‘Open Mike’ in return. Their parents Balwinder Singh and Gurvinder Kaur inform in unison, “We got to know about this programme through the IHC website. We thought it would be good exposure for the kids, and we are so glad we came here. We recommend ‘Open Mike’ to all who love reading and writing.”