Inside Clubhouse India

It is like a live radio show, and in India the social media platform has taken on an identity of its own — with antakshari rooms, regional discourses, and more

I first heard about Clubhouse back in January. A friend sent me an invite and I reluctantly opened an account, annoyed at being tasked with learning how to operate yet another social media platform. Then I ignored it. At least until the second wave hit and we were all back to being at home indefinitely. I logged on thinking it was going to be like last year’s Houseparty fad; safe to say, I am now hooked and I have no concept of sleep any more. What is Clubhouse? Think of it like a podcast in real time or a live radio show. Some describe it as a group of friends chatting or even having a “kitty party”. Whereas others call it a place to have dialogue and discourse. People now have the opportunity to speak to some of the best minds in their fields — internationally, rooms with names like Dr Anthony Fauci and Virgil Abloh have seen some of the biggest engagement. Closer home, people like Sonam Kapoor and Kusha Kapila now have a direct line with their fans. Since there are no text messages, direct messaging, or commenting on the app, the audio-only format limits opportunities for trolling. Something that Twitter and Instagram still don’t know how to deal with. For me, it started out as some fun, frivolous conversations about dating and “shooting your shot” (basically the Clubhouse version of telling someone you find them attractive). But soon I was tuning into more “serious” rooms. I am now listening in on conversations about the caste politics in India, the #MeToo movement, and crypto-currency.