Chennai | Blind date with books and coffee held by this reading community

On a pleasant Sunday afternoon, 30 strangers gathered at Crafe, T Nagar, each feeling a mix of excitement and curiosity. It was not your typical blind date event — there were no introductions or small talk. Instead, everyone was there to meet a book, handpicked by Bessy Reads based on their favourite genres, along with their favourite coffee. 

Bessy Reads, a silent reading community that meets every Sunday between 6am and 9am at Besant Nagar and Thiruvanmiyur beaches, organised the event. “Ever since Bessy Reads hit the 10K mark on Instagram, I have wanted to explore ideas that could engage our community of book lovers,” says Kruthika Kumar, one of the organisers. “We have quite a lot of ideas that we are working on as a team but wanted to implement one and see how it goes. We wanted to receive the response and feedback of our dear patrons and that’s how we came up with this idea,” she says.

Kruthika, along with fellow members Divya Maheshwari, Sri Sivakumar, and Janani Umapathy, initially considered bringing a few books from different genres and letting attendees choose based on clues. However, they quickly realised how specific readers’ preferences can be. “It took us three days to match books to genres and another full day to package them. We even added clues on the wrapped books,” Kruthika shares. There were 30 books in total. Each book, wrapped in a newspaper giving an old-school charm, had clues penned inside. For instance, Deborah Rodriguez’s The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul had a note that read “Brews and biscuits in a war-torn land, life and hope blend with a steady hand.” The clue lends itself to the book being a wholesome read.

Along with promoting the reading habit, the team is committed to supporting small, independent bookstores through these events. The team got these books from three bookstores: Subashini Book House, Tambaram; Sriram Bookstore and Booksbykilo, Nanganallur.

“We want to support independent bookstores because the kind of personal connection we used to have with books and the person at the bookstore, who curates books with affection, is dwindling in the digital era. We want to conduct events involving these bookstores so that the word reaches today’s generation,“ explains Kruthika.

Sruthi Muthukaruppan, 29, a first-time participant says, “This is such a unique experience. Here, reading is celebrated, not judged. It’s a great space to meet people with diverse literary tastes and make new connections.” She recently finished It Ends With Us and is of the opinion that the novel was better than the TV show adaptation which aired on Netflix recently.

Harold Prabhu, 27, a regular at Bessy Reads sessions, says his go-to genres are non-fiction, productivity-help, self-growth and at times, biographies. “The event fosters a sense of belonging. It’s wonderful to gather with like-minded people and exchange book recommendations,” he says. He tried to pick up the habit of reading fiction from these book reading sessions. “I recently read Dune by Frank Herbert, and it is a nice new experience,” he adds.

For Adithya Dushyanth, 29, the surprise element was the highlight. “Having someone else pick a book for me adds an exciting new perspective to my favourite genre,” he says. At the event, he received Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher. “It’s a coming-of-age novel and I love the sound of it,” he says.

Looking ahead, the Bessy Reads team is brimming with ideas : a book reading session at a sanctuary or zoological park where they will gift books or plants to people, a women-only reading session, and reading retreats to serene locations “Author meet-ups, and podcasts featuring writers are also in the pipeline,” adds Kruthika.

Today, when connections can disappear in the blink of an eye, there is something reassuring about losing yourself in a book.

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