Attend this storytelling community's eighth anniversary celebration in Mumbai

Before lsquobeing in someonersquos storyrsquo meant making a fleeting appearance on someonersquos Instagram for 24 hours writers Yahya Bootwala Priya Malik and Amandeep Singh were part of Tape A Tale founder Kopal Khannarsquos reallife story Eight years strong now the tape is still rolling for the close knit community that has charted a journey from Khar in 2017 to venues in Australia recently This weekend an anniversary celebration will see old friends from the group reuniteAn unusual KamraderieBefore cafeacutes in this city rolled out red carpets for events as vague as lsquocoffee ravesrsquo times were a tad different ldquoWe started as an audio story platform for the world to hear our stories That world ended up being 40 listenersrdquo Khanna laughs adding ldquoI then went cafeacute hopping in Andheri in 2017 asking for venue collaborations for physical shows They looked at me like Irsquod lost the plotrdquo Khanna recalls A familiar face would eventually bring things on trackSingh second from left Khanna centre and comedian Samay Raina extreme right in a moment from one of the earliest shows by the group PICS COURTESYKOPAL KHANNA InstagramldquoWe always wanted a standup comedian to host our shows to bring some comedic relief between the deeply emotional stories My roommate at the time had been on a Hinge date with Kunal Kamra who was doing fairly well for himself We took a shot in the dark and gave him a phone call to pitch the ideardquo Khanna chuckles The comedian would agree on one condition mdash the show would have to be hosted at The Habitat KharldquoAnd so our association with the venue began with open mics Suddenly stories that were locked away in peoplersquos diaries had a spotlight over themrdquo Khanna shares Among these early participants were Amandeep SinghMohammed Sadriwala and Mazgaonbased and Internetfavourite new age poet Yahya Bootwala ldquoI remember I performed a romantic poem at their secondever open mic Khanna came across as someone who had a balanced understanding of art and the business of art It was something the scene needed desperatelyrdquo Bootwala recallsPoetry goes coolSome digging in the depths of the Internet reveals that this writer might have more in common with Bootwala whose first tryst with writing came as a student columnist for a city newspaper ldquoI was a student at RD National College Bandra when the opportunity came my way Ever since Irsquove taken up copywriting radio and eventually fulltime writing jobs Now that I look back my writings have consistently explored the intricacies of human relationships across the mediumsrdquo he revealsAyushmann Khurrana performs at an open mic in Bandra PIC COURTESYTAPE A TALE ON YOUTUBESoon Bootwala found himself on the other side of the news this time for his viral poem Shayad Woh Pyaar Nahi which stands at 18 million views today ldquoThree days after the video was posted I was at a mall when a woman pulled out her phone and showed me my own video lsquoYeh aap hi hairsquo she asked It was all so unexpectedrdquo he fondly recalls This weekend the writer will give it back to his audience quite literally with a performance that entails audience participation Conflict and resolutionEvery fairytale must have an antagonist and for the group it came wearing a mask ldquoThe pandemic was without a doubt our most challenging phase The poetry and storytelling scene was so nascent that if we sat back for two years people would have forgotten us foreverrdquo Khanna shares Through online fundraisers online shows and storytelling workshops Khanna pulled through ldquoBut it dealt us a tough blow nevertheless Many artistes flew back to their homes across the country and never returnedrdquo she ruesKopal KhannaIt would be apt to say the group made a full recovery launching their own open mic venture Ghar and expanding to more than 30 cities across India In March Khanna received a nod from tinsel town when actor Ayushmann Khurrana crashed an open mic ldquoWe received a call from his team asking if he could make a special appearance with a poem he had written just two days ago Ayushmann has been a longtime supporter of storytelling in the cityrdquo Khanna revealsTo the next chapterWith almost all boxes ticked we ask the duo what lies ahead of them Bootwala hints at an upcoming webseries that he has been working on ldquoItrsquos a story set in 2017 Around the same time new art forms started mushrooming in Mumbai It will hit close to homerdquo he teases For Khanna her next milestone lies in the hills of Dharamshala where her new festival IP will debut later this year Do we know more Perhaps But thatrsquos a story for another dayON July 13 6 pm to 8 pmAT The Habitat Hotel Unicontinental Road 3 Khar WestLOG ON TO tapeatale on Instagram districtin for ticketsENTRY Rs 499 onwards