JOIN USTwo students offer hugs to Church Street visitors
People visiting Church Street on Wednesday were in for a surprise. Two girls were offering hugs to anybody who asked.
Tanishi Parasramka, 22, and Apoorva Agarwal, 19, walked the street up and down from 4.30 pm to 6.30 pm holding a placard that read ‘Free hugs’. When Metrolife met them, they had hugged over 100 passers-by and received red roses and a calendar in return.
The experiment was inspired by an Instagram reel, said Apoorva, a BBA student from a leading college in the city. But they were not recording their hugging gesture for views or likes. “We did it for fun,” she said.
Tanishi, who is pursuing a masters in behavioural science at the same college, added, “We have read that a person needs eight hugs a day for happiness (experts say it helps to achieve mental stability). But as we grow up and start staying away from our families, we get fewer hugs a day.” They stay in a PG accommodation at S G Palya.
Before the two hit the road, Apoorva was a bit apprehensive if some men would hug them inappropriately but to her relief, “it went smoothly”.
“Boys were a bit conscious. Some kept their hands off us while hugging. Some gave us side hugs. Some settled for handshakes and fistbumps. It was mostly teenage girls and women in their late 20s to mid-40s who came forward for normal hugs. Some found our gesture ‘cute’. The hugs were quick and lasted for about five seconds in one case,” Tanishi informed.
They may replicate the experiment in other areas as Tanishi said, “Hugs provide physical and emotional warmth. We don’t know what people are going through in their lives, so more hugs would be nice.”
‘Best city for content creation’
On the same day, the reporter saw budding YouTubers on the street.
A group had huddled around a boy holding a poster that dared: ‘Make me laugh. Get $10 (Rs 800)’. The fun challenge was being recorded on a phone. Two people got him cracking up with a ‘Knock-knock’ joke, and a dance. “I have been doing this dare for five months but only three people have made me laugh. I want to pay money to many more,” said Rahman Khan, the 27-year-old creator behind the YouTube channel SirSupreme, who is also a French interpreter and a personal development coach.
He moved to Bengaluru from Chennai about eight months ago. “It is the best city for content creation. People are young and open to challenges and they aren’t judgemental,” he said. He has organised street dares like ‘Truth or dare’ and ‘Take it or double it’ in other areas since but Church Street is a favourite. “It gets a bigger crowd,” he explained.
A little ahead, a boy dressed in the Santa costume and mask was distributing toffees to people as his entourage recorded the interactions. “I am a content creator,” he told the reporter but refused to divulge his name and channel.