Dublin Reads is a new group for people who wish to read in silence together in nature - and they are having their first meet up this Saturday.
Radhika Sharma has set up the group alongside her husband and sister in the hopes that it will create a peaceful place for people to come together and dedicate some time to reading, as well as enjoy being out in nature.
The idea stems from a group called Cubbon Reads which was set up in India with the same idea and now has spread to over 40 countries around the world, where different people are setting up their own silent reading groups.
Radhika from Jaipur, Rajasthan in India told DublinLive: "I am from India and the idea is from a page called Cubbon Reads which is a park in Bengalura in India where people come together and read in silence. I moved to Ireland three months ago and I wanted to set up a group here."
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"The most important thing about the group is that it is not a traditional book club where people read the same book and then engage in conversations about it afterwards. It is a very low maintenance community where there is no obligation whatsoever to engage with others in any conversation.
"Of course if you want to have a chat with people after the reading is done people are more than welcome to but there is no requirement to. You not answerable to anyone and it is an inclusive community for introverts and people who don't want to speak to others."
She said that the low maintenance aspect of the group is what drew her to it: She said: "I have joined groups in the past to spend more time on my hobbies and sometimes the commitment to the group can make you more stressed out and that is what this community tries to avoid."
She added: "There are no Whatsapp groups or people pushing you to come each week and there is also no registration fee or anything like that. You just turn up with you mat and your reading of choice on the day and you can come whenever you want and leave whenever you want there's no requirement to stay for the full time slot allocated."
Speaking about the importance of having a silent community, Radhika said: "We are nearly always scrolling on our phone or watching something and we all have so much noise in our lives in the sense of mobile phones and people chit chatting all the time so the silent aspect of the community is very retrospective and it is also about being out in nature and connecting with the environment around you."
She also explained that you don't have to be reading a book to join, you can bring a kindle or research papers if you are studying or something to read for work and there are no requirements of what you have to read to be able to join.
Radhika said: "I am also not the owner of the group. Nobody has to check in with me if they will not be able to come to a meet up or anything like that. There is no authority in the group and I am only here to keep the community afloat. There may even be some weeks that I am not there!"
The group are meeting for the first time this Saturday in St. Anne's Park from 11am to 12:30pm and anyone can show up or drop in within that time frame. For more information about meet ups the Instagram account dublin_.reads will post more each week.
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