KARACHI: As all voices have been drowned in today’s coffee houses courtesy loud blaring music better suited to a rave, The Second Floor café (T2F) is a pleasant alternative. It harks back to the days where chai khanas were places of intellectual discourse and stimulation and having a cup of coffee did not cost you an arm and a leg. But T2F has gone one step further and uses its premises to promote intellectual, cultural and art events.

So far there have been readings, discussions, qawalis and other musical evenings and this Saturday, the café is hosting “Compelling Conversations I” — an open meet to discuss current events in the country, and what role civil society can play “to ignite a movement to reclaim our rights”? That certainly does make for gripping conversation.

What prompted Sabeen Mahmud, the owner of the café, which is the first project of PeaceNiche, a not-for-profit organisation she founded, to start the series of dialogues which begins on Saturday in response to the strike call given by lawyers asking civil society to join their protest? For starters, Sabeen has been wanting to hold a series of conversations on various topics like gender, sexuality, religion and other issues on an “as-and-when-momentum-can-be-built” basis.

Given the wave of protests happening in the country and people’s interest in wanting to make a difference but not knowing how to, the timing seemed right to get this particular conversation going. “People need to be shaken out of their apathy,” she says.

While she’s saddened by people’s lack of interest, she’s hopeful of a new generation who, she finds, is blogging unlike before. “There’s a lot of writing [on the net] which is good because it shows people are expressing their points of view.” But how can that translate into action?

The idea is to provide people with a platform (T2F) to start thinking about the issues around them and find ways in which they can make a difference, ie brainstorm ways to protest.

“There are many ways to protest,” she says. “One can do it through art, poetry and music and we hope to use those mediums on Saturday.”