CITYBUZZ - Bengaluru, July 8, 2011 13CITYBUZZ - Bengaluru, July 8, 201112 ZOOm-in

RADHIKA VITLA

If some of us look forward to the weekend asthe best part of our week, there are otherswho groan at the thought of it, if only

because they are new to the city or are simplyunable to think of anything new to do.

But for working professionals Rupa Patiland Bernard Corrayya, this was just not done.And so it was that the couple got together abunch of like-minded people to form WeekendNuts, a casual group of working professionalswho come together every weekend to celebratetheir weekends in a unique and creative way,and when possible do their bit for society aswell.

Weekend Nuts is the brain child of Rupa, a32 year old electronic engineer who is original-ly from Mumbai but settled in Bengaluru for thepast seven years. Her idea received the full sup-port of Bernard, a 30 year old sales professionalwho is originally from Kolkata and who haslived in Bengaluru for over seven years. Findingthat they shared similar interests, the twofriends (now married) nurtured their dreamproject of Weekend Nuts, initially in a smallway given their hectic weekday schedules. Thegroup proved wildly popular, and today attractslarge numbers of enthusiastic corporate profes-sionals and others who join them in the manycreative activities they organise every weekend.

Rupa says that idea first came to her whenshe was invited to speak on 'creative weekends'at Ignite Bengaluru 2008, an event for corpo-rate professionals talk about and discuss allkinds of topics that interested them. Says Rupa,

"It was from the feedback I got there thatBernard (who was then a friend) and I realisedthat a large number of working professionals inthe city typically spend their weekend lazing orroaming around. There were manywho wanted to do somethingcreative, but lacked the direc-tion to do so. We decidedto do something about,and in February 2010 wecame up with the idea ofWeekend Nuts, andwithin just three weeksturned it into reality!"

Rupa says that thebasic idea was to bringtogether young workingprofessionals who hadcommon interests and getthem engaged in manyactivities including creativework and community service.

Weekend Nuts has since organ-ised activities like Smiley Days, PhotographyContests, Excursions and Day Outs, Poetrywith Wine, Wine-tasting for Amateurs, Ghazalevenings, i-for-ideas (an open speech event),Scooter Rally for ladies, and many more.Among them, Smiley Day- which was all aboutspreading smiles in the faces of needy - espe-cially clicked with the corporate crowd, sayRupa. She explains that apart from her interestin travelling and public speaking, communityservice has always been a passion for her, whichprompted her to design a weekend activitydesigned around it. So they have conducted ten

Smiley Days in the course of a year, which hasproved to be one of their most popular activi-ties.

As of today, Weekend Nuts boasts of over600 members in Bengaluru and the

number keeps growing.Membership is open for all

who love to spend theirweekends doing some-

thing worthwhile or cre-ative, and there is no reg-istration fee involved,although members areexpected to share what-ever cost incurred bythe particular activity.

In the year 2010,Weekend Nuts was short-

listed as one of the top 850ideas by the Economic

Times in under their Power ofIdeas 2010 feature.

It's about six months ago Rupa andBernard are happily married. This couples arestill continueing their passion of involving withtheir brainchild Weekend Nuts. Marriage hasnot stopped them engaging these activities intheir weekends. Hats off to this couple.

Apart from founding members Rupa andBernard, Weekend Nuts has a core group thatconsist of Vipin Vinchurkar (chief events man-ager), Soumya Gopi and Priyal Date (SmileyDay specialists) and Samuel Raj (photographyspecialist).

To join Weekend Nuts, visit: www.week-endnuts.com

Are you a working professional sick of spending your weekend sleeping, laz-ing or roaming around malls? A doseof ‘Weekend Nuts’ might just be whatyou need to make your weekends more creative.

An open speechplatform for working professionals,it welcomes speakers on any subject related to cur-rent affairs, social issues and so on. The purpose is to get people toshare their concerns and make them think about the world around them. Each participant is given five minutes to speak, followed by a five-minute discussion involving the audience.The event was held in November 2010, and had nearly a dozen speakers who address the audience.

A casual gathering of 15 to 20working professionals who write and enjoy shayari/poetry. Participants came from companies IBN, Yahoo and others.

SmileyDay is not just about handingout goodies to the needy. Other activities includespending time with inmates of old age homes or the differently abled, clothescollection drive and so on. Here, it’s a Children’s Day Out at the museum.

Weekend Nutshas so far held three events

related to photography; an online photogra-phy contest and two 'Photographer's Day Out' events off

Mysore road. The teams of photography enthusiasts were led by well-known concert photographer Lawrence Samuel Raj, who guided the participants in

various techniques of photography.

Ahugely popular activity

organised by Weekend Nuts, it is all aboutspreading smiles on the faces of the needy or the stressed out. A

small bunch of group members go out interacting with stressed workers, street childrenand so on, and also distribute goodies that make them smile. 10 Smiley Days organised so far.

POETRY/SHAYARI WITH WINE

CHILDREN'S DAY OUT

SMILEY DAY

PHOTOGRAPHY EVENTS

I-FOR-IDEAS Nuts about weekends

Bernard and Rupa