These were some of the questions in my mind when a couple of years ago, my friend, writer Vikram Chandra, suggested we do something about it. It sounded like a great idea. For a year or more we grappled with the idea of finding the ideal location. The ground realities were daunting. I withered and dithered. A friend Janet Fine, suggested the newly built party-room of the restaurant, Goa Portuguesa. She set up a meeting with the owner, Suhas Awchat. We toodled along. Suhas is acharacter worth meeting, if just to be gifted with his visiting card. The card is a work of art. And I'll say one thing for him, his heart is in the right place. He went for the idea, was real nice about keeping prices low and waived the room's rental as well.

The room itself was not exactly what I had in mind. But Suhas was such a sweetie and then there were other considerations. Geographically it was most desirable. Situated in Mahim, on an inner road, it meant easy accessibility for both ends of town. Being a suburbanite I am sensitive to the fact that we are often short-changed in the event business. Often the exciting events take place at the `other' end of town. Mahim meant that we would have a fairer chance of attendance from both ends of town. Equality atlast.

The first ADDA was on July 17, 1997. Amazingly a year has passed and the ADDA is still going strong. On 23rd July the ADDA celebrated it's first birthday.

Yes, ADDA was the chosen name designated to this meeting. The practicalHindi-English dictionary definition of the word ADDA (noun): a stand, base; meeting place; haunt; resort; perch; hotbed; ADDA banana (to make an adda): to turn into a frequent rendezvous, meeting place; to make a haunting place of.

That is the essence of the concept. Once a month, on a Thursday, we meet. I pick up a phone and call people I may know, as well as people I do not. There may be someone I've heard about. Or someone whose stuff I may have seen. Anyone actually who is interested in creative pursuit. The underlying consideration is to try and put together a collection of truly diverse folk who are participative in the process, not merely an audience.The ADDA starts at a given time. People come in, introduce themselves to each other, some may have met before, some not. The group is not a constant one. Some have attended previous ADDAS, some are new. After a good bunch of people have congregated we start the proceedings of the evening. There are at least a couple of presenters at each ADDA. We haveeven gone upto five. The presenters give us a view of their work, it could be film, poetry, dance, audio visuals, music ranging from jazz to ghazal, book readings etc. Architects have presented, unpublished novels have been read from. Once there was a film about Yerawada prison and I invited two recently released inmates, one after 11 years, a prize-winning poet; another after six years, a writer for serials. Both discovered their creative streak whilst in jail and had been released 23 days and two months respectively, prior to the ADDA.

Jeet Thayil chose to release his book of poetry APOCALPSO, through the ADDA, last October. The book went on to be on the list of ten best of CNBC, Outlook as well as several other publications. So what we have is not just a presentation of the artists' work but also the opportunity to discuss it, share views, debate and receive feedback.

This piece is tough to do. Because it is difficult to define what the ADDA really is. Each ADDA is different sometimes because of thepeople, sometimes because of the presentations. Sometimes it just is. What it is, is a free floating evening where things just happen. Come to party, come to let your hair down or come to be intellectually stimulated. An open mind is the key.