How silent reading communities in Srinagar are encouraging a newfound love for books and reading
Srinagar Reads and Boulevard Reads, along with the bookstore Gulshan Books, are making readers happy in the city. Meet the founders.
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It’s a hot day in Srinagar and I can’t tell if it was hotter back home in Delhi or if the sun in the valley is more relentless. If stewing in the heatwave in the capital made headlines in May 2024, Srinagar, as residents claim, has seen its hottest summer this year. One usually expects some rain in July, but even a drizzle of respite seems unlikely.
Cognisant of breaking out of my daydream, I bite into the last bit of my sheermal and down my noon chai (Kashmiri pink tea) to head to the Sher-i-Kashmir Park on Residency Road, to join the members of Srinagar Reads, a group of readers who assemble under the shade of chinar trees every Saturday evening to read books together.
Upon reaching, I find a spot by the side of the group of young men and women, and pull out my copy of Yoko Tawada’s Spontaneous Acts. The group, I notice, is engrossed in reading a mix of books which include familiar names like Franz Kafka and Albert Camus.
Srinagar Reads
After a concentrated two-hour long reading session (followed by a few rounds of Uno), I catch up with Ridwan-ul-Haq, a software engineer by profession and the founder and community organiser of Srinagar Reads, to chat about how he...
