Rise of Juggernaut

So, most of us who watch cartoons know who Juggernaut is--Professor X's step brother who, when gained momentum, was unstoppable, and was out to destroy Professor X. While Juggernaut kept being thwarted by the X-Men continuously, the publishing industry is actually expecting the opposite of this phenomenon.

Juggernaut is a new publishing house, infamous before it actually took off because Chiki Sarkar resigned from Penguin Random House to help Juggernaut gain the momentum it needs. With the first catalog here, Juggernaut boasts of some very impressive titles (I really want to get my hands on the Snowden and the RSS books. The crime fiction also looks delicious.) But the thing is, Chiki Sarkar is now competing with her old publishing house to make it to the top. Her claims of knowing what to feed people is backed up by her experience (and yes, I'm fangirling at this point), and Juggernaut is definitely going to be a site where she can think about feeding people one chapter at a time, like a TV episode: 

“Could we think of presenting a book in a way that people access it not just as one big, one-off serious thing with 200 pages, but in snack-sized portions,” asks Sarkar. “Can we make it possible for people to buy it in short, digestible bits?  A chapter or two first, and then if they like it, more? Could each chapter be looked at almost as a TV episode?” 

I feel like Juggernaut is the publishing house that I have been waiting for. Penguin Random House sold its soul long ago, before it even merged. In Juggernaut and its titles, I see a spark to produce good books, ones that should be consumed without compromising on the quality of themes and writing. Even the commercial fiction in the catalog makes me want to read those titles, and knowing how much I dislike reading commercial fiction, that is saying something. They are no compromising on the quality of content to find a bigger audience (*cough* 50 Shades of Grey, Vintage *cough*). Instead, they are looking for new modes to make books accessible to people. I might hate reading on a screen but if reading on screen is the only way some people will read, I can get behind that.  

I definitely see Juggernaut challenging Professor X (Prof. X being Penguin Random House, of course) here, and I'm quite certain that Juggernaut's going to be Professor X at his own game, even if it takes a while. In the meantime, I'm just going to sit here and wait for job vacancies at Juggernaut.

You guys go check out the catalog, though--http://www.juggernaut.in/catalogue
  

Slice of Life

So, I haven't really slept in two days because I had a term paper and a few tests coming up. I got through all of them with lots and lots and lots of tea (thank you, tea god and the chai wala whose shop is just opposite where I live).
Anyway, so, in the morning, I was in college, typing out an answer to be submitted in two hours. I was sitting along a ledge, and there were people milling all around me, singing Atif Ali songs and saying random stuff. And in the midst of such hustle, I was there with my cup of tea, brought to me by my minion, S (thank you, S!), talking about Paris and polyglossia when I realised that I could get used to this.
After almost one-and-a-half years of feeling stifled here, I realise that I could get used to staying like this, typing away on the floor, surrounded by people who talk in a language I don't understand. And then I realise that I'm going to miss this when I leave in another semester.


Maybe I'll come back for convocation, after all