Exclusive: In conversation with Telugu Tribe, a community on Clubhouse

The Clubhouse is a popular audio-chat app that provides for real-time audio discussions in virtual rooms. No sooner did the app launch an android version in India on 21 May 2021, the platform wItnessed an unforeseen influx of participants from the country. Started out as an informal hangout club for friends, the Telugu Tribe community on Clubhouse was created in the first week of March. Today with around 63.2K followers, Telugu Tribe is one of the largest and fastest-growing communities on the platform. In an exclusive interaction with Yo! Vizag, admins – Jagannadh and Poshitha look back to the miraculous journey of the club and owe it to the Telugu people who spread the word.

With more than 5.2 million downloads, since the android incorporation of the Clubhouse app, this audio interactive platform has eased the process of creating clubs and rooms. Taking us back in time to March 2021, Poshitha, the co-admin of Telugu Tribe, narrates the tedious process of writing emails to the backlogged Clubhouse team to seek approval to create a club. She adds “With delayed response from the Clubhouse team, it was eventually the connections that we had built on the app that materialized the Telugu Tribe club”.

”The idea was to spend time productively and rope in connections. I initially had two options for naming the club. Telugu Tejas or Telugu Tribe. Again the word ‘Tejas’ would be a difficult word to comprehend so we stuck to the word ‘Tribe’.” says Jagannadh, the founding member and admin of the club. Sharing her thoughts about the formation of the community, Ms Poshitha adds, “It happened when Telugu people around the world wanted to come together, listen to each other, learn from one another, speak amongst the tribe, and recreate that ‘at home moments’ to cherish it forever.”

Recalling the initial days, Mr. Jagannadh noted, “Initially it was a club with 60-70 members, and reaching 1000 members was quite a task. Our co-admin, Jahnavi actively mobilised Telugu-speaking individuals from the United States of America. It was the session we held with world-renowned flutist, PMK Naveen Kumar, that pushed us further into the limelight. Post reaching the 1k milestone, Telugu Tribe in a month rose to 47k+ followers.”

Mentioning the principles of Telugu Tribe on Clubhouse, he shares, “It stood for an amalgamation of different aspects of the community and provides a platform for everyone to share their opinions, as long as they remain respectful. The group also acts as a common ground for Telugu-speaking individuals across the globe. It bridges the cultural gap created by the land barriers of different continents – US and India.”

Adding to what Jagannadh said, Poshitha cites various reasons that compounded the growth of the club. “Indians always cherish a celebrity talk and what more can you ask for when it is a live chat? Our interaction with the director of Cinema Bandi, Praveen Kandregula had an incremental surge in the number of members joining the club. Subsequently, Telugu Tribe also hosted various others from the film fraternity like Venkatesh Maha, Sudhakar Komakula, Sree Vishnu, Megha Akash, and Sunainaa of Raja Raja Chora.” She recollects seeing various screen grabs from the live interactions that were reposted by memes channels on Instagram. Poshitha also attributes the Instagram memes channels as other contributors to the Telugu Tribe Club’s growth at Clubhouse.

Bringing on board a variety of talks, Telugu Tribe hosts various rooms, from educational, travel, photography, Telugu literature, music jamming sessions, entertainment, start-ups, legal matters, and career discussions. The Tribe also wishes to start a series of conversations on sustainable development. People across the world help each other grow by interacting with each other in the rooms offered by Telugu Tribe. With happiness and pride Jagannadh adds, “The musicians that once used to perform in our rooms regularly, are now getting offers from the film industry.”