Why 140 Strangers Meet in a Bengaluru Warehouse Every Weekend — With Drums in Hand
Imagine this for a second: a group of complete strangers sitting in a circle, hands tapping on drums, the beats slowly starting to match, one following the other. No one’s talking, but somehow everyone’s connected. There’s no stage, no audience. Just people playing, listening, smiling, getting lost in the rhythm.
In a city like Bengaluru, where people come from everywhere and life moves fast, finding that kind of simple connection isn’t always easy. Work keeps you busy, weekends fly by, and before you know it, months pass without meeting anyone new.
That’s exactly where Gaurav Gupta found himself not too long ago — in a new city, feeling a little lost, and looking for a way to feel a bit more at home. What started as his small idea to fight that loneliness has today grown into ‘Bangalore Drums Collective’, a space where people come together, pick up an instrument, and find an easy way to connect.
‘The new city made me feel lonely’
For Gaurav Gupta, a 40-year-old working at Infosys, Bangalore Drums Collective didn’t start because of some lifelong love for percussion. It started because he was feeling lonely.
“When I moved to Bengaluru in 2022, especially after living all of my life in Mumbai for work, I started feeling very lonely,” Gaurav says. He was used to Mumbai’s easy camaraderie, but Bengaluru felt different. “The city’s social landscape was kind of conservative.”
Trying to make friends outside of work wasn’t easy. “And how many times in a week will you go out and go clubbing, eating, drinking?” he says. After a while, even the usual ways of socialising didn’t help.
The loneliness slowly crept in. “Call it depression, call it anxiety, call it feeling sad, I started to feel that,” he admits. “And this was happening to me while I was supposed to feel settled in life.”
Looking for a way to connect, Gaurav thought back to the drum circles he had attended earlier — once in Mumbai, and later during a stint in Toronto. “It was love at first sight,” he says.
‘We sat down with a chart paper and started planning’
That memory soon turned into an idea. “India is a country of many states. And on average, I feel every state has two very renowned percussion instruments,” Gaurav says. That diversity gave him the push — if rhythm could bring people together everywhere else, why not here?
He called two of his friends, Krishnakumar and Madhu Srinivas, and pitched the idea. “I called them up and said, ‘Let’s start a drum circle’. And they were like, ‘What is a drum circle?’, he laughs.
Since both of them were instrumentalists, they understood where Gaurav was coming from. They met at his home, sat around the dining table, and started mapping it all out. “I started drawing on a big chart paper, writing the whole plan for execution,” Gaurav says. The idea was simple: gather people, bring instruments, and just let the rhythms flow.
‘The first attempt gave us a reality check’
With the plan in place, BDC’s first drum circle kicked off at Cubbon Park. It wasn’t anything big — just Gaurav’s friends, a few people who noticed them playing at the park and joined in, and a small circle forming on the grass. They were simply testing the waters, hoping to create a space where anyone could walk in, pick up a drum, and feel part of something.
But within a short time, officials came over and asked them to stop. “They asked us to stop whatever we were doing because there’s a court and there was some examination going on,” Gaurav says.
While the idea was great, Gaurav had to figure how this can be implemented in Bengaluru.
That small disruption was enough to make him realise that Bengaluru wouldn’t work the same way Mumbai did. Back in Mumbai, places like Bandra Bandstand or Juhu Beach had always offered a corner where people could gather without much hassle. Here, public spaces weren’t always so flexible. There were permissions, restrictions, and the added unpredictability of Bengaluru’s weather — sudden rains, harsh sun, and no guarantee that every weekend would be drum-friendly.
It was a bit of a setback, but not one that discouraged him. Instead, it forced Gaurav to think more carefully about what kind of space BDC really needed — somewhere sheltered, accessible, and open to everyone.
More importantly, he wanted it to feel welcoming for anyone who walked in, no matter who they were. “Wherever there is public, stories start brewing,” he says, explaining why, from the very beginning, BDC was designed to be community-friendly, family-friendly, and earth-friendly.
Finding the right space
The Cubbon Park hiccup made one thing clear: if this was going to work, they needed a proper space. One that wouldn’t get disrupted, one that wouldn’t depend on the weather, and most importantly, one where people would feel comfortable showing up.
That’s when Bangalore Creative Circus came into the picture — an old warehouse that had been transformed into a creative space for artists, musicians, and performers. It ticked every box.
On 4 June 2023, BDC held its first official session there. Gaurav went in with his own drum and brought along two extras, just in case. “I made them sit and play with me. And I said, I want to do this with 150 people,” Gaurav recalls.
And slowly, people started showing up.
BDC is attended by different age groups of people in Bengaluru.
Exactly a year later, on 4 June 2024, 140 people gathered for BDC’s anniversary jam — a sign that the idea had found its audience.
“I think there is no other city which can give space, time, and value to artists, especially being a metro like Bengaluru,” Gaurav says.
How the sessions started bringing people together
For many who show up, BDC has become much more than just a weekend activity. It’s turned into a space where people can switch off for a while, meet others, and enjoy doing something simple and joyful — with no pressure to talk or network.
“The community jam has allowed me to make friends and have a productive circle of my own,” says Chaithra Narayana Swamy, a visual designer. “As an introvert, it was initially difficult to break out of my shell, but the rhythm and beats allowed me to enjoy the sessions completely.”
For Arthi Krishna, a 50-year-old life coach, these sessions have become a small pocket of mindfulness in her week. “BDC has allowed me to be mindful of the hour I spend in a joyful manner. Percussion also has the power to grab people’s attention quickly in comparison to other genres of music.”
For others, it’s simply a refreshing change from the usual. Abhijith Ravi Kumar, a general manager and musician, says, “I personally liked BDC because I got to explore rhythm beyond the tabla I play. Even my small daughter had a good time in the session.”
What makes Gaurav happiest is seeing how naturally people of all ages and backgrounds show up. “We have fathers coming with their daughters. We have husbands and wives. We have people who are dating each other. We have kids coming over. We have a bunch of only ladies coming over at different ages. It’s beautiful to see how percussion unites people despite the differences,” he says.
Run by volunteers, driven by passion
At its core, BDC remains a passion project — built entirely on voluntary effort and the love for rhythm. While Gaurav and his two co-founders handle most of the key decisions, it’s the small team of volunteers that keeps everything running — from securing venues, managing logistics, handling registrations, to managing the online presence.
To cover basic expenses, they charge a small registration fee of ₹200 for each session. Whatever comes in gets reinvested to make the experience better for everyone who attends. The team also follows a three-week cycle, giving themselves enough breathing space between events to plan and reset.
With over 100 people attending every session now, BDC’s reach has continued to grow steadily.
To make things even more accessible, the team is now planning to introduce something called BDC Shorts in 2025 — smaller, more frequent weekly jams, so that people who can’t make it to the larger sessions still have a chance to participate.
Balancing a full-time job with a full-time passion
Running BDC alongside his corporate job hasn’t been easy for Gaurav. The weekdays are packed with work at Infosys, and most of the organising happens over weekends.
“Is it difficult? Absolutely! Monday to Friday is crazy. I take Saturdays and Sundays to manage this,” he says.
But for him, BDC isn’t just a side hobby — it’s something that gives him balance and joy, even with a packed schedule.
As Chaithra puts it, “People tend to think that being in corporate and having an artistic lens doesn’t go hand-in-hand. But this drums circle has proved that wrong since I have seen people from different and diverse professions attending joyfully.”
Looking ahead, Gaurav hopes BDC will continue to grow into something more — a platform that gives both musicians and non-musicians a chance to experience rhythm in its purest form. The team is also planning to start a podcast called Amongst Us, where they will share stories of regular people who’ve found joy, connection, and friendship through percussion.
BDC started with one person looking for company. Today, it has become a reminder that sometimes, even in the middle of a busy city, people will always find ways to come together. As long as someone is willing to take the first step.
Edited by Khushi Arora; All images courtesy BDC.
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