Democracy Café

A thriving Socrates Cafe has taken hold in Gujurat, India. According to 31-year-old Mayuri Talia, a writer, student, mother of a 4-year-old, and the organizer of the Socrates Cafe, it is helping cultivate a more flourishing participatory democracy in her city, particularly for women, and forging new bonds of friendship among people who otherwise would not have had a chance to know one another. What's more, Mayuri is sure that Socrates Cafe will soon spread to other communities throughout India. Participants at their Socrates Cafe, who hail from diverse walks of life and experiences, have explored questions like, What is an excellent marriage? What does it mean to have a successful and rewarding life? How do we best educate our children? Mayuri says the Socrates Cafe has helped make the world, and her world, a smaller and more connected place, and that all who take part vastly improve their listening and observation skills, and that it has made them more understanding and less judgmental, even if and as t