This is in continuation of Bookoholics Open Mic Part I which is posted here. Part II Continues -

The only bad part about this meet was that Pinak followed the time limit !!! We all were having such a great time listening to him. The applause which followed after his presentation in itself expressed how much we all appreciated his talk.

The podium was then shared by Jash. Jash is a dynamic go-getter, an ex-asst head boy of Xaviers, a creative person and a nature lover. He presented a hindi poem, 'E Insaan Tu Aaisa Kyu Hai??' which is a joint effort by his friend, Uday Chinai and himself.

Aaliyah, our very own in-house beauty who can boast of excellent oratory skills to match followed next… She presented a small talk on Money and the importance of it today.

Aaliyah was followed by Tanya. Tanya introduces herself as a bird who is learning to fly... a poem who wants to meet that grand ocean... She likes dancing, singing, writing, speaking & watching hard core horror movies. She recited a self composed poem.

Rohan followed Tanya to grab everyones attention... Rohan is someone who is blessed with the classic gift of gab and also knows how to utilize it to the maximum!! Besides being a lawyer, Rohan is true blue cinemaholic . Being multi- talented, he revealed himself as a poet and allowed us to have a peek into his poetic pool...

Rohan was followed by Shrey who in himself is a big surprise package. Shrey described himself as a student, a thinker, a musician and an almost photographer. Being multi-ambitioned is what he likes about himself and adjectives such as sheepish, humble, disciplined, down to earth are what do not describe him at all !!

Last speaker for the day, Hemant Sir did not need any introductions with Bookoholics. His book review of 'Are You Joking Mr Feynman' in the last Bookoholics meet was a treat for everyone present. This time he was speaking on "What One Reads" which was about the "reading" we do other than books...

This marked the end of the scheduled speakers list. The forum was then thrown open for anyone who wanted to speak to the group or comment on the given presentations. Pinak was called upon to speak on Bookoholics 2.0 which is starting with a new book circulation model for members. He was then followed by Prabhakar who had a genuine feedback to share with the group and involved everyone in a good discussion.

The meet ended with a true delight. Shrey orated "The Great Dictator" by Charlie Chaplin to the group... and all of us were just left aghast by his brilliant oratory skill. This was really the cherry on the cake. A great ending to a great meet at Bookoholics.

Shrey orating "The Great Dictator" by Charlie Chaplin

Following are some photos of the audience spell bound by the speakers during various presentation -

Then all of us were served an elaborate menu and we continued the discussions, feedbacks, conversations over the refreshments. Everyone was busy sharing ideas... giving feedbacks... appreciating speakers... relishing food & missing a few regulars who were not there for this particular meet.

And finally at the very end a few classic Bookoholics portraits were shot !!!

And so ended another meet at Bookoholics... Connecting like minded people together... providing an opportunity and a platform for members to come forward and express themselves... being a bridge between members of various age groups, various back grounds, various professions but just one common gene binding them... their love of books.

Tell us what you feel about this post !!! Please leave your feedback in the comment section below. Thank You.

Listening looks easy, but it's not simple. Every head is a world and every word a seed… Effective listeners remember that "words have no meanings - people have meaning." And the meaning comes from inside us. The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood and the best way to understand people is to listen to them.

Event - Bookoholics Open Mic

Organizers - Bookoholics Group (Surat)

Venue - SVNIT Guesthouse, Piplod

Must Visit for – Book Lovers, Bibliophiles.

Facebook Link - Click Here.

Contributors - Manashni Bava-Adam & Rahul Kedia

Photos Courtesy - Puja Kedia Photography

Bookoholics Group organized an Open Mic Session on Sunday where everyone was invited to take the stage and READ ALOUD to the group... One could read anything to the group be it a poetry, a story, an inspiring article, a fable... anything !!!

The Event Poster -

The Venue (SVNIT Guesthouse) -

The event started with a book exchange scheme, wherein attending members were asked to get a book along, which they would like to exchange with the group.

Members could give a book to the group's pool and in exchange pick up any book they liked from the same.

It was then followed by a group photo for the media (Times Of India and Divya Bhasker were present to cover the meet)

After this the hostess for the day Manashni took over the reigns of the meet and started with the speaker introductions and speakers were invited one by one to the center stage to read out aloud to the group.

Manashni - Hostess For The Day. Bookoholics Open Mic

The opening batsman for the day was Tanasha, a student and a writing aspirant who loves writing poems and can make one in minutes . She has also been the winner of Radio Mirchi RJ Hunt Surat as well as Gujarat. She presented a poem penned by herself.

The second in the line was Chaitali, who is into Soft Skills Training and Education since 4 years and is currently working with various Schools, Colleges and Corporates across Surat. She gave a small talk on Empathy. Her ending quote - "Don't be pathetic, be empathetic!" received a huge applause from the audience.

Then the Mic was passed on to Sanjay who is an Architect and Urban Designer. He presented "The Great Dictator" a great speech by Charlie Chaplin to the group. I would personally like to thank him for the same. It was a great speech which i got introduced to for the first time.

Next to the podium was Anav, who besides being aptly eloquent orator, also likes to paint. In addition, he is a voracious reader (A Bookoholic). He presented a self composed article on humor which received genuine applaude and appreciation from the audience.

Rahul the next speaker is an engineering student by day, an aspiring film maker by night, currently working on his second film. He recited a self composed poem which was "surprisingly good" !!! :P

A dentist by profession but a thinker and an unassuming philosopher at heart. Famous for his one-liners and repartees and equally for his goodreads "already-read" book list, Pinak was next in line to grab the mic.

He spoke on "In defence of ignorance" Or "Why self help books are useless". We loved the his presentation which left the crowd both in laughing fits and in deep contemplation. Click here to read this article on Pinak's blog.

End Of Part I. Click Here to go to Part II.