Public Property

When a public telephone booth metamorphoses into a local cybercafé,there is a revolution afoot. In the late 1990s,many such small but significant changes were taking place in Delhi’s landscape. It was a time for change,thought a group of academics,filmmakers,translators,poets and writers who came together over food and conversation and began visualising a space where academia and art would be accessible to the public. In 2000,Sarai was formed,and this Friday the independent research centre at Civil Lines is celebrating a decade of study,collaborations and conversations with a day-long programme of book launches,readings,art and food.

Ravi Sundaram,one of the founder members of Sarai,says,“When we started in 2000,people thought we were crazy to do the kind of things we set out to do. We wanted to create a platform where academics would engage with the public,a space where knowledge-production and knowledge-sharing processes met.” Their 10-year anniversary is proof of that. One of the main highlights of the evening will be the launch of Trickster City: Writings from the Belly of the Metropolis (Penguin),a collection of writings by,among others,20-somethings living at the LNJP colony in Central Delhi and a youngster who worked in a slaughterhouse in Old Delhi. “The collection has resulted from a Sarai project. The authors have been associated with the Cybermohalla labs set up by Ankur Society,an NGO associated with alternative education,and Sarai,” says Jeebesh Bagchi of Sarai.

Now they are planning to open what they call the Sarai Interface Zone with a series of exhibitions called “The City as Studio”. The shows will go on for a year. “There really isn’t a non-profit space for exhibitions in Delhi . The Interface Zone will be a small,agile space aimed at bringing art and knowledge into the public domain,” says Bagchi.

Sarai is also the place where the Capital’s graphic novelists and illustrators came together as the Pao Collective. To celebrate that association,Amitabha Kumar,a co-founder of the Pao Collective,will present a session on the graphic novel,followed by a discussion with Sarnath Banerjee,Orijit Sen,Parismita Singh and others of the Collective.