About
Started in 2025 by people who like listening to those who know things, preferably over a drink.
How it started
In November 2024, Ashish Kulkarni and Ravishankar Iyer, who had found out that they lived near each other in Pune and both liked beer, got talking about hosting public talks over drinks.
The very next day, by coincidence, Navin Kabra tweeted about Science on Tap, Anoop Mahajan’s series in which a scientist gives a talk in a pub. It was a cool idea, he wrote, but it was in Koregaon Park, and like a true Punekar his reaction was “एवढं लांब?” (that far?). He hoped someone would start it up in Aundh or Baner.
That tweet got the three of them to a table. Ravishankar brought along Nagaraj Balasubramanian, a cell biologist at IISER Pune. They met at a brewery in Balewadi on 14 November, and by the end of the evening the thing had a name.
The first talk was on 27 March 2025: Prof. Pradeep Apte on the alchemy of brewing. It sold out, and most talks since have too. Harish Bhamidipati joined the organizers a few months later and brought the quiz with him.
KnOT borrows the model of Science on Tap, with Anoop’s blessing, and widens the brief from science to any area of knowledge where we can find someone who knows it well.
Pune KnOT is not a company or a registered body. Nobody is paid. The cover charge goes to the venue and comes back to you as food and drink.
Who runs it
- Ashish Kulkarni Teaches economics and writes EconForEverybody.
- Nagaraj Balasubramanian Cell biologist at IISER Pune.
- Navin Kabra Software person; runs the WhatsApp community.
- Ravishankar Iyer Storytelling coach and author of Story Rules.
- Harish Bhamidipati Sets and runs the warm-up quiz.
With help from Navya Bhamidipati (posters and speaker coordination), Agastya (photographs). Thanks to the team at Wynkk for the room, and to Anoop Mahajan for the idea.
Written about us
- KnOT in My Backyard Ashish Kulkarni, EconForEverybody, December 2025.
- Cocktails, canapés and hard talk The Indian Express, April 2026.
Start one where you live
Nothing here is hard to copy: a venue that will give you a quiet weeknight, one good speaker a month, a WhatsApp group, and a rule that you start on time. If you want to run a Knowledge on Tap in your city or on your campus, write to us and we will tell you what we have learnt.
Contact
puneknot@gmail.com, or find any of us at Wynkk on the last Thursday of the month.