Hot new app in India is getting people reading. And turning them into writers.

Photo credit: Steve Rainwater.

To anyone in India who loves books, was born in the 20th century, and believes in the causes she espoused, Mahasweta Devi was a revered name. The country lost one of its most powerful writer-activists when the 90-year-old passed away a week ago.

On that day, starting from the time I read about her death on a friend’s Facebook post, social media in my part of the world was afire with the news. The next morning, Delhi newspapers followed suit – obituaries, first-person accounts, photographs, and discussions on her work, both literary and otherwise.

What I did not expect, though, was a short story by her in my phone.

I found Fisherman asking to be read for free that morning. Out of sheer curiosity I had peeped into Juggernaut Books, an app I had downloaded just a few days ago, and there it was, a tiny tale, peeping back at me. Perfect timing!

As I was to discover, Juggernaut Books makes it a point to rise to the occasion.

Launched on Android four months ago with 100 titles, it has increased that figure 10-fold and added an iOS version since then – now boasting 1,000 titles and over 500 authors.

Photo credit: Chad Miller.

But calling it just a book-reading app would be to undermine its ambitious intent.

Founders Chiki Sarkar and Durga Raghunath are hoping to create an Indian publishing company that redefines reading and writing for the digital age.

Short form

Chiki is the former editor-in-chief of Penguin Random House India. Durga last worked as a senior vice president at Zomato. And they are up to things unusual.

Why unusual? Because no one really saw former porn star Sunny Leone as a blockbuster writer until Juggernaut Books promised to send her short stories to you every night.

Because who would have thought that an electrifying conversation between American whistleblowers Edward Snowden and Daniel Ellsberg, actor John Cusack, and Indian Booker winner Arundhati Roy could come to your phone (it’s a book, of course), and make you feel you were privy to it like no one else.

Why I converted

Book, line, and sinker

Voilà! You’re a writer