Light music, a drink in your hand and a lecture to attend to. Sounds interesting? Evenings at some bars in the National Capital Region (NCR) hit a different note these days.
On one such evening at Social in Delhi’s Hauz Khas, chairs were lined up, facing a projector screen. The seats gradually started filling. While one might be used to such an arrangement at bars during match screenings, this time it was for a lecture — being attended by young adults, mostly.
A pamphlet listing “house rules” was also placed on each seat, asking attendees to put their phones on silent mode, avoid placing orders during lectures, and save conversations for breaks. Before the session began, the volume of the music was lowered and orders were paused.
Nerd Nite, unLecture and Pint of View are the events that have sparked a new rage in the NCR, featuring lectures — 20 minutes or longer — meant for ones looking to learn and unwind at the same time.
Nerd Nite’s Delhi chapter began last July, inspired by a series that originated
in Boston, and the events are now being held in more than 100 cities. Each 18-20-minute lecture is followed by a question-answer round.
“It is a passion project as of now. We slot it for a Thursday night once a month, because on weekends, a lot of people make other plans, while weekdays are generally all about work and post-work rest, with no intellectual stimulation. The aim is to wrap up our session by 9:30 pm so that it can be accommodated as a weekday affair which is unstructured and nourishing at the same time,” said organiser Anandita Lidhoo from Centre for Social and Behaviour Change under Ashoka University. Her colleagues Gopikrishnan Nair and Bidisha Mahapatra are with her in this venture too.
Nerd Nite organisers said they currently do not have a business model, choosing instead to keep it “sustainable and fun” for now. Speakers do not charge a fee and are offered small tokens, such as a mug or sticker as “goodwill”. Feedback is collected through a QR code, shared with
the attendees.
On Thursday, professor and scientist Gautam Menon spoke at a Nerd Nite event at Social on pandemics and how bird flu could be the next one. Manu Joseph, who went next, performed a standup on the idiosyncrasies of the urban elite and poor which he personally refers to as “standup anthropology”.
“It is a very interesting space. Ideally, streaming platforms or legacy media should be doing this,” Joseph told The Indian Express after his session.
Nair mentioned that speakers do not even charge.
Meanwhile, at the Nerd Nite’s event at Social, Mishka Lepps keenly listened to the lecture while working on the marketing of her company’s next lecture. Unlike Nerd Nite, unLecture, which she runs with her St Stephen’s batchmates Kezia Mammen and Sonalika Aggarwal, has a business model, with venue owners taking a portion of ticket sales. They have one speaker who speaks for 45 minutes before a question-answer round begins.
“We consider the others (in the space) friendly competition,” she said.
“We organised our first lecture on August 20 last year. Nerd Nite did inspire us…We knew there was definitely an audience for intellectual engagement beyond the classroom space.”
Attendees, meanwhile, attest to the popularity of the concept.
“I came to know about it from Instagram, and will come again. It is a good initiative as it is casual and less formal,” said Srishti Khurana (27), a food technologist, after attending a Nerd Nite event.
At Fort City Brew Pub, Hauz Khas, such unLecture events have become popular.
“It is a nice way to learn things … meeting new people … variety of the topics help. Helps professionals like me relax,” Dr Jay, a 27-year-old psychiatrist, said.
Professor Ravikant Kisana, popular on social media as the Buffalo Intellectual, who delivered an unLecture talk last Saturday on Savarna modernity, said that for the social elites such events are cerebral leisure.
“There is collective isolation and alienation as vitality has gone from public sphere where one is passive. These spaces will likely vanish once crowd-puller speakers are unavailable,” Prof Kisana
also said.
Public policy scholar and former president-CEO of the Centre for Policy Research, Yamini Aiyar, who has spoken twice for unLecture, calls herself a “fan” of such spaces. “People come to deliberate on important issues and have insightful conversations… Creating a space for serious sombre dialogue that contributes to strengthening democracy is very welcome…”
Ashish Ranjan, co-founder & director, Fort City Brew Pub, where Prof Kisana delivered the talk, said: “The topics help both patrons and proprietors learn more about the world around them.”
He added that as of now, Fort City Brew Pub too takes a share from the money earned from ticket sales, and gives a part of it to patrons as cover charge they can use against the bill.
Pint of View aims to offer a similar relaxed yet more intellectually stimulating vibe, where experts deliver in-depth lectures on cutting-edge science, history, architecture, philosophy, or arts. Discussions that follow spill into lounges. Pint of View terms their sessions as “easy warmth” or simply “a room full of curious people”. At the post-talk buzz, they say, ideas find shapes.
Unlike Nerd Nite’s multi-speaker format, Pint of View focuses on one immersive, rigorous lecture per session.
Nerd Nite, unLecture and Pint of View are the events that have sparked a new rage in the NCR, featuring lectures. (Express photo) 
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