I see these posts on IG, selling a beautiful looking pair of lips, red Vaseline is the secret, to such luscious, kissable, soft, plump but not too much, as if a Van Gogh just finished the last touches to his month-long work, a pair of cherry red, in rainy water like colours, lips.
No where they use the word – product.
It doesn’t say anything about dark lips, damaged lips, unseemly in shape, like the letter S.
It doesn’t ask you to buy red Vaseline. It says, secrets to glow up.
Such a small thing to think about, and very common, perhaps.
My thoughts were on another, books. I read on social media, book clubs promoting themselves as free, taglines like “books are expensive, book clubs should be free”.
What are these book club runners getting out of this? Passion dries up after the honeymoon phase, bills start showing their tails, people move on from the fad of joining a book club and return to ignoring books except for a nice picture in a café or on a vacation.
Being an advocate and seeing it all around me, I cannot ignore the value of data.
Contact numbers in WhatsApp groups, selling a certain Instagram page etc etc… after all, sales are never done directly, it’s a game you have to play without sharing the rules with the players, or rather, the stepping stones in the game, to jump up to a certain point from where, the other side of the wall becomes visible.
My problem is, I cannot do it. I simply share it directly, sometimes in bullet points, which perhaps kills the delusion of socialism.
When PDBC began, it was a beautiful thing, no thoughts to rent, air conditioner, tea, sometimes snacks, decorations for festive vibes etc and we loved creating a serene, welcoming indoor space with parking for all readers.
We were surprised, that readers exist. I didn’t see many in my 9 years in Ahmedabad.
But we were no Bridgertons, hosting regular balls. We had to charge something to walk the road with tolls. A boy commented, “books ko dhanda bana diya.” All I could think of was, he is in the medical profession, the noblest of them all, and he pays his own bills.
Another reader who had never attended an edition asked us, why are we charging? It seemed foolish to answer but this man also came to ask for help when he landed in legal trouble, and we helped him, gave our team, legal research, advice etc, free of charge.
So yes, I am a book club owner, and I have learned that experiences are made of products, but they are hard to sell because they don’t mate with our tongues, salivate our taste buds, or give us a makeover, like a beautiful pair of earrings, or a simple white linen dress.
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p.s. What is PDBC?
The book club that is making me sit in a café with a latte and write again…