A book club called Book Bound, in Bangalore

Book Bound @Debbie's splendid home on Rest House Road. Many years ago -- 9 to be exact, I started a book club in the Catholic Club Library. A book club called iBrowse, in Bangalore. The name was another story and why I began the book club also another! To answer the question why I began it? It was because we first started meeting in a coffee shop in Garuda Mall which was too noisy and not enjoyable. One meet and I decided let me ask the club since the Arch- Bishop had asked me to begin something cerebral rather than just the singing and dancing we christians are supposedly known for. So I went to a committee meeting and requested the then President Francisco Saldanha and the rest is history. I first began the club in the Library with probably just six people who had come and the book being read was Chetan Bhagats -- forget the book -- it was awful. But the club had no name, so I asked the members to give it a name. The name given by one reader was Browse and a younger IT person added the i and it became iBrowse. A name no one else can replicate!

Book Bound on my terrace Slowly the club grew in size and I asked for the Rain tree hall which was slightly bigger. 12 authors were given the platform each year and the years sped by with some coming all the way from the UK like Jenny Mallin with her six grandmothers cookery book, Kunal Basu from Oxford with Kalkutta, Manu Pillai the young historian with Ivory Thrones, a scholar from London and Wendell Rodrigues the famed designer with Poske among a host of Indian literary giants, as well as little known first debut authors like Ryan Lobo. What a pantheon of authors and we all enjoyed every single one in the book club, sharing with us about how wrote their books and what was their muse. But there is never paradise forever and iBrowse got taken over by a MIC after 8 long years, who wanted to turn it into a money making event. For me an academic, books can never be money spinning and I gracefully bowed out, leaving iBrowse to him and starting my own book clubs called Page Turners and Book Bound. Page Turners is held in a fancy Business Centre on Residency Road, handled by one of my students, which is posh.

Page Turners @ Kafnu Residency Road Book Bound was started in the restaurant Nossa Goa, which is defunct now, just to help increase the young restauranteur’s footfall. It was our old home and so my bond was strong and I wanted it to prosper. Sadly that was not to be. And before we had to shift again, as the old adage goes -- if one door closes another opens-- a beautiful designer door opened for me. An old school friend who remembered me from my athletic glory days in school, came suddenly back into my life. We schooled together in Jesus and Mary Convent New Delhi and her mother and my mother had worked together teaching in the same school. Both service kids,Debbie opened her home and heart out to Book Bound and we began to have meetings alongside her gorgeous swimming pool. Book lovers are on a level playing field. Wealth is unimportant, wealth of knowledge and the willingness to share, is.

Joshua Mathew and his book The Last Great White Hunter She also decided to give us dinner after the discussion which was not just simple goodies but bakes and wraps and burgers and dessert along with coffee’s and tea’s or a juice should you so desire. We had liveried service and valet parking in a white marble floor basement. It was a bit of a shock for us used to the one by two coffees offered in the CC. To be met with this largesse, there is definitely a God who is watching out for the book club and my dream.

Dinner spread by Debbie and Teji You can’t imagine the joy it gives me to host you all, she says, but we all do feel a bit awkward and have told her no, we can all share hosting it in each one’s homes. The next one is in my home but I refuse to keep up with the Joneses and it’s back to tea and biscuits for me. Like I said, we come for the books not the food, but who can say no to fish and tartar sauce when Debbie lays its out?