Gather and create is their mantra

Are your weekends always about picking a restaurant to eat out or going for a drink with the same old friends?

Identifying that most forms of entertainment available are about consuming, Badrinarayanan Seetharaman, Qusai Kathawala and Ashwin Kulkarni came up with the idea for Gathr. “When you go out to eat or for a movie, you are consuming what someone else has made. There is no sense of investment in the activity. We wanted to have alternative social experiences in which people would create rather than consume,” he said.

The activities are limited to groups of twenty people to ensure that everyone is involved. Instead of relying on one person to organise, ‘Gathrers’ suggest activities for the community to engage in.

“Suppose one person wants to learn beatboxing and there are others who want to learn, a third person offers to have the session in their living room and thus we have a weekend activity,” he said.

Apart from the more ordinary cupcake-baking workshops and quizzing, they have unusual events like a sleep concert inspired by composer Robert Rich, in which participants achieved a semi-conscious meditative state using music.

Aruj Garg, founder of a startup, learned about the events through social media. “My weekends were always the same. I would go out for a meal or a drink and I wouldn’t get to meet anyone new. Through Gathr, I have realised that there are so many things I can do which are entertaining and informative.”

The activities are often organised in public spaces. “I loved the ‘Story Hunt’ that we had in Richmond Park one weekend.” said Sabika Muzaffar. “We were given prompts to go talk to complete strangers on the street and get their stories. We got complete strangers to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ on camera to our made-up sister,” she said with excitement. Sabika has been an organiser too, hosting a session on cooking Haleem and reading poetry. The Gathrers have a long list of activities planned to keep their weekends creative and happening.