Five people.
One long afternoon.

hours together, roughly, before two adults start counting each other as friends.

Jeffrey Hall, University of Kansas, in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. Around 50 hours to become casual friends, 90 to become friends, over 200 to become close ones.

200 before either would say close friend

3 what one evening with strangers gives you

The same five people every week. Nobody here drinks or smokes. Nothing ends up online.

Answer the questions

Six minutes. No account needed.

The whole idea

You know how this goes. You find an event, you turn up, you meet six new people. What do you do, where are you from, how long have you been in Hyderabad.

Next week, different event. Six different people. Same conversation from the top.

Nobody is short of introductions. Introductions are the cheap part.

You end up having met a lot of people and knowing none of them.

This is the same five, week after week. That is the only difference, and it is the whole thing.

Who it is for

Making friends gets harder after a certain age, and not because you got worse at it. Everything just moved. Plans happen in bars, they happen late, and all of it gets documented.

If you do not drink or smoke, and the whole city seems built for people who do.
If you have skipped things you actually wanted to go to, because you knew there would be photos.
If you would rather have one long conversation than a whole evening of small talk.

Then this was built for you, specifically.

What actually happens

Five people, picked from the answers you give, so there is already something in common before anybody speaks.

An afternoon somewhere quiet. Something to do, and enough time to actually talk.

You will forget to say something, and remember it on the way home. It will not matter. You will see them on Saturday.

That is what the same group gives you and a one off never can. Nothing has to happen today.

What it is not

Not a dating event
Not networking
Not a workshop
Not a therapy group

And nothing gets photographed. No group picture at the end, no stories, nothing on anybody's feed on Sunday. It is not a preference. It is most of the reason this works.

The practical bits

WhenSaturday 26 September, from 4pm
WhereSomewhere in Hyderabad, quiet and easy to get to. The address goes only to the people who are coming.
How manyFive, plus me
How longFive Saturdays in all, if you carry on after the first one

What it costs

₹499 The first Saturday. Come once, see what it is actually like, and stop there if it is not for you.

₹999 The next three, if you want to carry on. You decide that after you have met everyone, not before.

Free The fifth is on me, if you make it all the way through.

₹1,498 for five Saturdays. Nothing recurring, nothing to cancel.

How you get in

A few questions. Some are more personal than a signup form usually is, and that is on purpose.

The first one asks whether you drink or smoke. If you do, this is not your room, and the form will say so kindly and stop there.

There is no impressive answer. It is how five people who will genuinely get on end up in the same room, instead of the five who clicked first.