Second.

One of the things we’re taking time to figure out is whether we need to take another look at our ‘tracks,’ as we call the broad headings under which TGP Sessions are organised. We’d like your opinion on this.

Please go here — https://forms.gle/cxfdYKdHVXoRD7Kd8 — and tell us which tracks you like. This should take you not more than a minute or two.

(And we’re also looking for people to help curate these tracks. If you’re interested, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/E8eReuiK95SVJikc6 )

Third.

We have been listening to feedback from people who have missed Sessions despite intending to be there. The most-heard refrain: I saw the email / invitation / message / social media post but I forgot. Second most common: I didn’t see the email / invitation / message / social media post. With some, it’s because they don’t look at email that often these days. Some of you in our Telegram group say you get overloaded there too. And with our social media posts — and our event pages within the Facebook group to which we diligently invite everyone who are members — algorithms conspire and most people seem to miss them.

So, may we make a suggestion? We send you a calendar invitation, which you can add to your calendar, and send you a reminder before the event.

To sign up for calendar invitations, please write to thetgpsessions@gmail.com — put ‘invite me’ in the subject line — and we’ll add you.

Fourth.

We recently had our first hybrid event since the beginning of the pandemic, an in-person TGP Sessions in Bangalore (which members not in the city could also witness and participate in via Zoom). We plan to have more of these, but we learnt that we do need more people to help organise these things: a minimum of two of TGP’s curating team and at least two others to help with logistics. We are looking for folks in Goa, Bangalore and Bombay right away, and gradually we hope to include more places, provided we have a critical mass of people in them.

This is volunteering that will not take up much of your time. We’ll need you physically present on the day, possibly one other day on which there will be a tech rehearsal and dry run, and a meeting or two on the phone or via Google Meet.

If you would like to volunteer in your city, please write to thetgpsessions@gmail.com with ‘Volunteering for [your city name]’ in the subject line and your contact details.

If you can provide us with a venue at low or no cost for these in-person meets, something that could accommodate at least 20 people, has wifi, microphone(s) and speakers, a projector and screen — basically the kind of place that could host a hybrid meeting — please write to thetgpsessions@gmail.com with ‘Venue in [your city name]’ in the subject line and your contact details.

If you don’t have the time to volunteer but you’d like to attend these in-person sessions, write to thetgpsessions@gmail.com with ‘Interested in TGP Sessions in [place name]’ as the subject line.

Fifth (and last, for now).

We are planning to have some sessions which will be different from what we have been doing the last two years. These will be in-person events that do not adapt well to an online format — for example, nature and heritage walks, guided tours of museums and galleries — and so will be only for people in particular locations. As far as we can see, we do have sufficient numbers of people in Bangalore, Bombay, and of course Goa, so we’ll start with those first. We’re calling these TGP Communities,

This is volunteering that will not take up much of your time. These events will be, at most, once a month, on a weekend. We’ll need you to physically present on the day, of course, and for a meeting or two on the phone or via Google Meet.

If you would like to volunteer to organise these in your city, please write to thetgpsessions@gmail.com with ‘Volunteering for TGP communities in [your city name]’ in the subject line and your contact details. If you have suggestions for these local community events, do include them in your email.

If you don’t have the time to volunteer but you’d like to attend these in-person sessions, write to thetgpsessions@gmail.com with ‘Interested in TGP Communities in [place name]’ as the subject line.

Siddharth has walked over 6000 kilometres across India, especially along rivers, trying to document and bring stories of marginalised people and the environment into the mainstream. The documentary Moving Upstream: Ganga, from his 3000 km walk along that river, has been doing the festival rounds, and is slated to be released soon. His organisation Veditum India Foundation hosts some of his work, along with efforts towards environmental research, documentation and accountability initiatives.

Vidushi is a lawyer and researcher who investigates the societal implications of artificial intelligence (AI). She works at Article 19, where she leads research and engagement on the human rights implications of machine learning. Her work has been cited by the Supreme Court of India in a seminal ruling on the Right to Privacy, and by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, among others. She is a member of the Expert Group on Governance of Data and AI at United Nations Global Pulse. Her recent work investigates predictive policing in New Delhi, emotion recognition in China, CCTV surveillance in Myanmar, and more.

We start in 5.

Coming up on July 17th, a hybrid TGP Sessions. This one is in Bangalore. And we’re putting this out early so folks in the ’Luru can let us know in advance whether they can make it. Which, in turn, is because our venue has limited seating and requires us to submit a guest list in advance. (Folks elsewhere, no worries, it’s hybrid; that is, you can participate via Zoom.)

What will you be signing up for? Here’s something to help you decide.

Many of us — urban, educated, living in metros, comfortable with English — may assume that we will choose our own domestic / romantic partners and, while finding that significant other, gain a lot of experience and fun stories. But we are a minority. A very small one. As data journalist Rukmini S wrote for the BBC — https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-59530706 — in a piece about marriage and relationships in India, 93% of Indians said that their marriage was arranged. There was a slight change in the data for younger people, but marriages are, almost entirely, within caste and religion boundaries. Individual choice, by and large, is not a significant factor.

But, in the same article, a Dalit man Rukmini interviews — someone in a secret relationship with a girl from another caste — says, “Your data shows you there's very little inter-group marriage. But it doesn't show you about love.”

He, and those among you over 30 and still single or who have picked or are picking their own partners — and everyone living outside the cis-het binary — are harbingers of slow, but steady change. But still outliers. And outliers mostly have it tough.

So, on the 17th, we’ll dive into dating, relationships and just meeting like-minded people in a society that expects and tries to enforce conformity. We’ll ask what happens when you don’t want to go to marriage brokers or rely on religious and caste networks. We’ll investigate what singles are doing to find fulfilling relationships and navigate a world where the norms of such interaction are yet to be fully established.

The venue is almost certainly going to be WeWork Galaxy, Residency Road https://goo.gl/maps/46WoB8huTtX9ATLd9

Presenter details in our next email, but if you are in Bangalore on the 17th and want to make sure you have a seat at the table, please let us know via this form. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdI5xUK8hZtATcNsPMOG9Svmoqer5ptOjLYlU5ZYYc-Eu7vcQ/viewform

Hello. We made an error in the registration link for in-person attendees and posted the one from our previous in-person event in Bangalore. It is corrected now, but just in case: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdI5xUK8hZtATcNsPMOG9Svmoqer5ptOjLYlU5ZYYc-Eu7vcQ/viewform

(If you have already registered there, no worries; the team will check that form too.)

A quick note to tell you that we are shifting the next TGP Sessions from 14th August, the middle of a long weekend which we think might see many of you wandering off the Internet, to 21st August. This will be an online session.

On the 21st, our discussion will be about new ways of feeding the planet. We’re finalising our presenters, and will mail you soon about it, but you can sign up right away. https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMrfuisqTMpHdfsrdBIR_X3KhIAVbny8GoJ

Hello. A reminder that we meet in about 45 minutes.
Do join us.