Does work take up all your time, making it hard for you to pick up the bestseller you’ve been wanting to read since ages? A Mumbai-based man has a fix for you. Amrut Deshmukh aka the Booklet Guy is the brain behind the initiative — Make India Read — wherein he picks up the bestsellers and converts them into audio and text summaries that are just 20 minute long.
“A few years back, my friend and I reached early to a theatre. The movie was yet to begin so we started talking about books. I had just read Stephen Covey’s book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People then and decided to share with my friend a summary of it that hooked me to it. My friend was really impressed with my narration and how I summarised an entire book [of 432 pages] within a few minutes. My friend gave me the idea to send such summaries via WhatsApp text messages, to our group of friends, for every book that I read,” says Deshmukh.
Deshmukh’s journey to fame began with 15 friends, who regularly read and appreciated his efforts to help them read fat books in little time. “The number of people who started receiving these summaries grew to about 2000 readers, from across India and now has reached a 2 lakh! Now, readers even request their favourite books or authors’s work to be summarised. I take them up as and when I can,” he says.
But this Booklet Guy’s initiative doesn’t stop at the 2 lakh readers he presently has. He wishes to introduce Make India Read to every individual in the country — from the ones who love to read to the ones who don’t. “I want Booklet to become as big as WhatsApp or Facebook. Not because I need fame but because that would mean millions of readers being a part of this mission. I also plan to introduce a Hindi Booklet and another one for the kids that would be called Grandma’s Booklet. The readership on WhatsApp and the Booklet app is growing everyday, and that is all I want for now.” he adds.
{{/usCountry}}But this Booklet Guy’s initiative doesn’t stop at the 2 lakh readers he presently has. He wishes to introduce Make India Read to every individual in the country — from the ones who love to read to the ones who don’t. “I want Booklet to become as big as WhatsApp or Facebook. Not because I need fame but because that would mean millions of readers being a part of this mission. I also plan to introduce a Hindi Booklet and another one for the kids that would be called Grandma’s Booklet. The readership on WhatsApp and the Booklet app is growing everyday, and that is all I want for now.” he adds.
{{/usCountry}}Thinking how to get your hand on these book summaries? Just type ‘Booklet’ and drop this message via WhatsApp to Deshmukh (on +91 8652553355) and he will start sending you summaries, as and when he finishes a book. Besides, one can also download the official app — Booklet - Make India Read.
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