There was a time when people looked forward to things like book club meetings, play readings, theatre performances and other such literary activities. Today, forget all this, even reading (at least from books) is something that fewer and fewer people do. At a time like this, the Shakespeare Millenium Club, that started in 2002, has never missed even a single meeting in the last 15 years.
For 15 years, the members of the Club have met on the 23rd of every single month at the Cosmo Club in Chennai. The Club was started with the intention of keeping alive the Shakespeare love in Chennai, one of the founders was Jamuna Kalyani Sridharan.
The beginnings:
The Shakespear Millenium Club was started by Sridharan and a couple of her friends who all came together for the love of the playwright. But for Sridhar, the love affair started way back in college when one evening a friend and she offered to clean the library and ended up stumbling upon Shakespeare. For months after, she says she read nothing else.
After more than 30 years of being an English language teacher, Sridhar retired in 2003 but not before she sorted out her post-retirement plan- the club.
The Club's first meeting was held at the Cosmopolitan club on April 23 and continued to meet on the 23rd of every month, a tradition that it has kept up all these 15 years. But why 23rd? Because April 23 is Shakespeare's death anniversary. Not a month in the last 15 years has the meeting been missed, Shridhar said.
The club isn't a registered one but is the literary arm of the Price Philip Rajah Institute of continuing education, which Sridhar is the founder of the Institute, as well.
From cooking broths to Shakespeare rangolis
If you thought that these club members just sat around and discussed the plays or Shakespeare, you're far from the truth. The club conducts competitions, from quizzes to painting to also cooking the food mentioned in the plays to having Rangoli competitions based on the plays.
The Club also plays Tambola, the Indian version of Bingo but the Shakespeare members do their own take. "The numbers are not called out though, instead we make Shakespeare reference to some number and the players have to guess the number. For example, if someone says 'Ides of March' you know they mean the number 15," Sridharan explained.
The Club has also brought out a tiny booklet of a 100 famous Shakespeare translated into Tamil and attached to key chains. "We wanted even the non-English speaking community to get a glimpse into Shakespeare and his literature," Sridharan added.
The Club on many occasions has also been part of many international events and had won laurels too.
Around Shakespeare's world in 30 frames
Recently, on August 23, the Club organised an exhibition, called 'Knowledge Everywhere'. "I can confidently say that anyone who spends two hours at the exhibition will be able to pass any graduate level exam," Sridharan said.
The exhibition displays 30 plaques- these plaques display the life of the playwright, from his date of birth, his early life, his first plays, his contemporaries, his critiques, his works, rare facts about his life, love quotes, words and phrases he invented, most popular couples, villains and heroes and heroines.
Besides these plaques, the exhibition will also display other Shakespeare related collectables.
"From Kancheepuram to Kashmir, the exhibition will be travelling- to various colleges and schools. We've already been invited to various colleges in Chennai too," Sridharan explained
