RAISE A GLASS, ASK A QUESTION

TMS unpacks the surge of bar lectures, exploring why audiences can't get enough of learning after dark with a margarita in hand...

- ADITHI REENA AJITH

An evening at Nerd Nite, Delhi

T’S a chill Saturday evening at Gurugram’s Unlocked bar, and performance and behavioural change specialist Chhavi Singh Raghuvanshi is breaking down the human brain to an audience sipping margaritas and snacking on nachos. The mic crackles, the slides freeze, but she moves through neuroplasticity, neuroception, and even detours into existentialism without losing stride.

This is not a classroom but a new social norm — bar lectures where evenings are spent geeking out, a trend born in the US, now taking off in Delhi NCR.

Unlecture, founded by Sonalika Aggarwal, Mishka Lepps and Kezia Anna Mammen, friends and graduates of St. Stephen’s, hosts talks every weekend across the NCR. “We wanted a casual, friendly space that disrupts the typical lecture format, the ones outside campus, that can feel sterile and intimidating,” they say.

Unlecture also draws inspiration from the US-based Lectures on Tap. “Delhi is a cultural hub, but what was missing was informality. At a seminar, even stepping out makes you overthink. At a café or bar, you're relaxed. That ease didn’t exist in learning spaces,” says Lepps. After countless sleepovers and planning sessions, the trio launched Unlecture’s first event in August. Four months later, they’ve crossed 9,000 followers and have a packed November calendar with every session selling out within days.

For the geeks

While the setting might suggest otherwise, bar lectures aren't about hitting the bar. Swati Bajaj, who runs Pint of View, Noida, insists most people don’t even order alcohol. “The majority ask for mocktails or coffee. They're actually taking notes at these nerdy lectures even in a bar,” she laughs.