Regimented Crowd

On August 02, 2026, the Adhyayan Writing Community hosted its 39th Session 'Regimented Crowd'. The session brought together reading, discussion, and writing, using literature as a way of engaging with broader questions of society, power, conformity, identity, and collective behaviour at Ambarion Cafe, Raipur.

Role: Co-facilitator

Full Name: Krishna Priya

Email ID: krishna.priya260404@gmail.com

Note on Contribution: Managed the crowd.

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Role: Host and facilitator of Adhyayan

Full name: Satpriya Kaur Mudhar

Email ID: satpriyakaurmudhar@gmail.com

Professional ID: adhyayanwritingcommunity@gmail.com

Note on Contribution: Ideation and poster making.

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Role: Co- facilitator

Full Name: Y. Jahanavi

Email ID: naidujanvi772@gmail.com

Note on Contribution: Managed the crowd and clicked the photographs of the session.

What: The primary objective of the Adhyayan session “Regimented Crowd” was to create an open and participatory space where participants could explore the relationship between the individual, the crowd, and the larger social and political structures that shape everyday life. The session brought together reading, discussion, and writing, using literature as a way of engaging with broader questions of society, power, conformity, identity, and collective behaviour. A central part of the session involved a discussion of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, which provided a literary lens through which participants could examine ideas of authority, hierarchy, propaganda, power, inequality, and the gradual influence of collective systems on individual thought and action. The discussion encouraged participants to move beyond the text itself and consider how these ideas can be understood in contemporary social contexts. The session also allowed participants to bring their own interpretations and experiences into the conversation, making it a space for both literary engagement and personal reflection.

Why: The session was organised to encourage participants to critically examine how individuals behave within groups and how systems of power and social expectations can influence collective behaviour. The idea of a “regimented crowd” raises questions about what happens when people become part of a larger collective: how belonging can create solidarity, but can also lead to conformity, unquestioned acceptance, or the loss of individual agency. Animal Farm became an important point of discussion because its exploration of revolution, power, changing hierarchies, manipulation, and inequality offered participants a way to think about these questions through literature. The conversation also encouraged participants to connect the themes of the text with their own understanding of society, institutions, communities, and contemporary life.

More broadly, the session aimed to make literary and social discussion accessible through an informal community setting. Rather than treating literature only as something to be studied, Regimented Crowd approached it as a starting point for questioning and understanding the world around us. Through collective discussion and writing, participants were encouraged to listen to different perspectives, articulate their own ideas, and reflect on the ways in which social structures influence individual choices and identities. The session therefore sought to build a culture of critical thinking, creative expression, and meaningful dialogue, while demonstrating how literature can act as a space for examining larger questions of power, society, freedom, and human behaviour.

Adhyayan believes that every voice has a story worth sharing. Through this event, we invited the participants to discuss about Animal Farm, the structural society which influences an individual's choices and identities. Participants also shared their writing pieces and discussed and questioned about power, freedom and society.