The B3D 10th Anniversary Meet – A (Relative) Newcomer’s Perspective
About ten months ago or so, a friend of mine told me about a book club he’d recently joined in order to develop his habit of reading and refine his tastes. “You should join it too, get some exposure,” he said. And so, heeding his words, I found myself making my first introductions in the Broke Bibliophiles Book Club Delhi’s WhatsApp group.
Before I knew it, I was swept away in various conversations and discussions and debates that the club regularly had. The members talked to each other and me like equals, regardless of age or experience or seniority in the club, on a variety of opinions and recommendations – mostly on books, but also a little bit of everything else on the side. A couple of weeks in and I felt comfortable enough to discuss whatever bookish thought occupied my mind freely, even getting into a couple of friendly debates. It felt like a cozy online community I could finally be a part of.
I attended a couple of in-person meets as well, usually with ten or twelve most active club members, and soon I became familiar with them. But then, it was time for the B3D Annual Anniversary Meet. The biggest B3D event of the year, where members gather in numbers unprecedented from all across India, taking time out from their busy schedules to spare a day for the club. And despite my newfound sense of familiarity, I was still apprehensive about the gathering. There were going to be a lot of people here, and I wouldn’t know them all. What if some of them remembered some back-and-forth we had months ago? What if my conduct in the group had been too loud unbecoming for a new member? Thoughts of all kinds swirled around. Nevertheless, the meet was happening, and at the behest of friends, I decided to attend.
And this post is to tell you how glad I am I did. The meet was everything I had expected and more. The way members immediately lit up at the arrival of anyone new to the gathering made up for the sweltering heat outside. It was quite the sight to behold three rows of people sitting atop chairs and a grandstand, facing the center as the hosts of the day invited them one by one to break the ice with their fellows. The format was simple; a one-line introduction followed by questions about the kind of books they read, the bookish places they’d want to go, their favorite (or hated) characters from books, and other such questions which made the audience regularly exclaim “Oh I so agree with that!,” or “Tell me more about what you read,” or “Got any recommendations for me?”
And the members themselves varied immensely. I saw people like me, who had joined not so long ago, people who had been here for years, a couple of founding members of the club over a decade ago, and people for whom this would be the first meet ever. There’s a natural stiffness when you meet so many people without being too familiar with them, but slowly we mingled together as the minutes passed and the introductions wrapped up. Knowing each other online was a privilege; but to meet in person has a different kind of warmth attached to it, that I can confidently say everyone in the room was basking in.
Once the introductions were done, it was time to band together and play Pictionary. We divided into four large teams of over ten-twelve people each, together staring at jumbles of unrelated pictures trying to guess what book they could be alluding to. Pretty soon, the meeting hall sprang to animated life as members (myself included) were vying to get the correct answer first, shouts and laughs filling the air. And I have to mention the snacks. The B3D tradition is to bring our own foodstuffs and share it among ourselves. Members had brought items both familiar and exotic to graze upon as the activities continued through the day. Homemade laddoos, artisanal cookies, chip brands both new and old, and a hefty plate of puran poli were being passed around for almost the entire duration of the meet. One of the hosts had brought home-cooked biryani, which was the highlight of the day for me personally.
Coming back to the activities, once we were done with Pictionary, it was time for a quiz. We divided ourselves again into the same teams as before to save on time before starting off on an eight round bookish trivia extravaganza. The pounce-bounce system had members excitedly claiming the correct answers as discussions carried on in the background regarding whatever question was displayed. We were all slouching with contented exhaustion by the time the quiz was done.
We had a little book auction up next - a delightful little activity where members donated books to the club wrapped in nondescript covers with a little note explaining the plot without revealing the name. The auctioneers read out the plots from these notes, and any member interested in the mystery book raised their hand to claim it for themselves. The donations were extremely generous; the highlight of the auction was a hardcover-bound stunning copy of Gone With The Wind.
There was one final event left before we got to the cake-cutting ceremony, and that was the release of the B3D Zine. It’s a booklet published by the club featuring selected prose, poetry and art made by the club members. This year’s edition was wrapped with a gorgeous purple cover featuring SFF-themed artwork on both the front and back. And thus, it was finally time for the concluding highlight of the evening; the cake cutting ceremony.
This year’s anniversary meet was special for B3D, marking a decade of existence. The club started off as a Facebook space for book lovers in Delhi to discuss their love of reading and economical ways to support the hobby. Since then, B3D has gained hundreds of members, an Instagram page, WhatsApp groups, and their own zine. The cake presented was a celebration for all those years and the wonderful memories they carried, and a toast for many more friends and gatherings to come. I haven’t been in this club for long, but at the anniversary meet, I felt like I was home amidst people I could relate to, whose knowledge I could benefit from. I felt like I was watching a melding of past and future into a very enjoyable present. I went home that day clutching my present from the book auction, a zine I too was a part of, a smile on my face, and a blue stain from the cake I’d gobbled up.