Do u meet to read??

Caferati - the all familiar name to the would-be-authors of India - had the usual Read meet last weekend at the plush lawns of the writer- Vanaja Banagiri.It was an eclectic crowd - writers, poets and listeners.Veterans like Raju and Captain Kiran read some amazing prose with others like Prat and Shastri had wonderful verses to share.I happened to read aloud my short story and must confess that I was not at my reading best - it is not everyday that I get to read a 1500 worded short story to a select audience of writers (and the last time I remember reading was in front of 15 year old school children).

A good outcome of the read meet is the type of confidence it gives budding writers.Like for eg,Shastry, who is ready with his 700-odd-paged tome, got good advice from Vanaja about the nitty-gritty of publishing houses.

Another highlight of the evening was my own autographed copy of Butterflies and Barbed Wires (Vanaja's first book published by Rupa and Co)which actually made an interesting read(perhaps i shall post a review on that soon).

What with the discussion on books, debate on use of heavy vocabulary in writing and different styles of writing, I should say that it was indeed an evening well spent.