Writing stories of strangers, juggling, street theatre: How busking is changing the face of Bengaluru streets

BENGALURU: On a balmy Saturday evening, as Church Street, the city’s famed party lane, begins to stir for the night, Rahul Kondi sits outside Blossom Book House, clicking furiously away at the typewriter.

Unlike most others on the street, who are there to have a good time, Kondi, 24, looks for stories from strangers and then write them a note or a poem. It’s what he calls as Bengaluru Busking.

Worldwide busking translates to the act of performing in public places, where the returns are mostly in the form of gratuities or pay-as-you-please mode. While it includes acts like acrobatics, animal tricks, clowning, juggling, magic, mime, musical performances, storytelling, sketching and painting, street theatre, it does not consider writing a part of it. Something that Kondi wanted to change.




A designer with a creative agency in Bengaluru, Kondi has befriended people unknown to him, asked them questions about their daily life, their state of mind, their likes or anything that starts a conversation. Then depending on how they’ve warmed up to him, he has typed back his feelings for them.

“Starting from December last year, I have completed 28 weeks of writing for others,” he says. And his motives to do so are clear. “I want to improve my writing skills. Also, constantly being on apps and digital formats had begun to erode my attention span. I wanted to switch off from everything and go back to the art of listening and absorbing.” Kondi spends Saturday evenings outside Blossom and Sundays exploring other venues in the city like co-working spaces, cafés, campuses, metro stations and even the airport.

He once spoke to a girl from 9th grade, who said if she were to be a book, then she’d be a completely blank one. Another time, a person in his 60s discussed the different political parties through the ages, while once a stranger and he just sat next to each other, watching the street, without any conversation at all.

Some creative professionals are also joining Kondi, inspired by his idea. Technology worker Richa Priyanka joined him in April, to write for people she meets in public spaces. “I have been writing poems as a kid. But Bengaluru Busking has taught me how to connect with people and write impromptu,” she says.

Art restorer, Sneha Ravikumar, 26, came across Kondi’s busking during one of her visits to Church Street. Ravikumar who has lived in the US, says she was thrilled to find such an effort in Bengaluru.

“I was having a bad evening and Rahul wrote a poem for me. It picked me up instantly,” says Ravikumar, who has since then visited the Bengaluru buskers a few times more.