Notes on Reading, Parks and Fashion
In each edition of this newsletter, I will share some inspiring web resources that I have curated after hours of research to ensure that you have the best education coffee in your inbox. In upcoming editions, I will focus on sharing insights, notes and realizations that I gather from people, ideas, books, films and podcasts. This month I have taken up a #30DaySubstackChallenge. I want to challenge myself to write a newsletter everyday for the next thirty days. I have really enjoyed writing this newsletter and this is a way for me to build my skill set as a newsletter writer. I will go back to writing a 2xWeekly Newsletter in January 2025.
On Episode 42 of #LearningStories, we chat with Priyanka Achhpeliya about being a fashion entrepreneur in India. Priyanka is a fashion entrepreneur on a mission to rebrand Made in India. She is a strong design professional with a 4 year Bachelor of Design degree in Fashion Design from the National Institute of Fashion Technology Hyderabad and a 2 year Advanced Diploma in Fashion Design from Raffles Millennium International. She is currently pursuing a 2 year Post Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship from IIM Vishakapatnam.
Her experience at NIFT, coupled with her exposure to various craft clusters, instilled in her a strong desire to preserve and uplift traditional Indian crafts. She founded Aasmaan in 2021 as a casual wear brand with an aim to bridge the gap between heritage Indian textiles and the youth. The team at Aasmaan sources these textiles directly from the artisans and converts them into apparel that is relevant. You can find her on Linkedin and Instagram.
Silent reading communities are groups of people who read silently in public spaces like parks and beaches. The communities are based on the idea that reading is a personal experience, and that people should be able to read without the pressure to talk or socialize. I recently got to participate in one such meeting by Juhureads. This is a quiet reading community that gathers at Kaifi Azmi Park, Juhu, every Saturday from 5 to 7 pm. I really enjoyed my experience at this meeting and was able to read some fiction without any interruptions or distractions after a really long time.
Here is the story of Juhureads, which was Mumbai’s first silent reading community by Diya Sengupta on the Scroll.in platform. She commented on the experience of reading in this community as follows:
The silent reading community is unlike a group of people inside a classroom, where relationships are mediated by the consumption of common texts. The Reads’ community can be compared to a group of people meditating together, without communicating with one another. The act of reading itself creates a lovely visual. However, a group of people sitting together and reading different books in a public park has also become a counterculture.
Here are links to some other silent reading communities around India:
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Cubbon Reads
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Surat Reads
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Pune Reads
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Jodhpur Reads
This is a video showing you how characters in Pokemon were inspired by animals in the real world for the team at Pixel Zoo and BBC Earth Kids. My favourite character from the list was Squirtle that was inspired by a turtle and squirrel.
Here was an extended discussion between Amit Varma, Sanjana Ramachandran and Samarth Bansal about finding love in Modern India. I heard this over 3-4 days and learned a lot about identity, gender, relationships and dating in Modern India.
Thank you for reading this edition of #EducationCoffee. I look forward to writing weekly editions of this newsletter this year. I hope to continue to share resources that will add value to your life. You can also review the archive of Education Coffee for free at this link (past newsletters).
Please do send me your thoughts and resources on any edition of this newsletter through email at [email protected], Linkedin or Twitter. If you would like to read pieces in the future please do consider subscribing to this newsletter by clicking the button below. I love taking these discussions forward on those platforms and look forward to hearing your feedback.
Abhishek Shetty
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