At a time when the reading of books and periodicals for pleasure continues to decline, what could be a way to reach out to potential new readers?A prominent United States-based nonprofit committed to the preservation of the Gujarati language, literature, and knowledge has launched an initiative to offer a selection of articles from a range of contemporary sources to readers for free on the Internet.The Ekatra Foundation, which says its aim is “to deliver the finest works of Gujarati literature to a vast readership in the blink of an eye”, has launched a digital magazine to reach out to Gujarati readers including the Gujarati diaspora living both within and outside India.The first issue of the magazine, ‘Vachan Milap’, which is edited by the retired civil servant and noted literary figure from Ahmedabad Dankesh Oza, was published online on Independence Day.In a note on the launch of the digital magazine, two core members of Ekatra Foundation, Atul Raval and Rajesh Mashruwala, said, “This is an attempt to address a specific and imminent need of contemporary times. That need is of authentic, enriching and thought-provoking reading carefully curated from abundant reading material.”‘Vachan Milap’, Raval and Mashruwala said, “is a humble and dedicated effort of Ekatra Foundation to bring contemporary Gujarati writings to every reader”.Goal: to reach out to almost 50 lakh Gujaratis living outside GujaratResearch by Prof Chinmay Tumbe of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad has estimated the size of the Gujarati diaspora at 4.9 million, of which about 3.6 million – 73% – live outside Gujarat within India. Tumbe’s paper, ‘The Internal and International Diasporas of India’ was published in the journal Sociological Bulletin on August 13, 2025.Story continues below this adIn an article written for The Indian Express last year, Tumbe pointed to the existence of both historical diasporas as well as new diasporic communities created as a result of recent migrations.“As with the international diaspora, there are ‘old’ internal diasporas and ‘new’ internal diasporas linked with the recency of migration. There is the diaspora formed by old Gujarati migration to Tamil Nadu linked with weavers and traders several centuries ago, and more recent ones formed in Karnataka and Maharashtra linked with business-related migrations,” Tumbe wrote.Raval and Mashruwala noted that while “numerous daily newspapers, weeklies, and periodicals are published continuously in Gujarati language”, in today’s “fast-paced life, it has become impossible for an average reader to access all these sources”.This was especially true “for our Gujarati brothers and sisters living across the seven seas (abroad) or in other states”, for whom “accessing this vast reading treasure of their mother tongue poses a major challenge”, they said.Story continues below this ad‘Intelligent content; not aligned to any party or ideology’This is where ‘Vachan Milap’ comes in, said Oza, the editor of the digital magazine. “The interest in reading has gone down. Reading triggers thinking. So the objective is to provide thought-provoking literature… This magazine does not contain stories or poems etc., but articles on current trends,” Oza said. ⠀The first issue of the magazine contains articles published on various platforms by writers including Navnit Gurjar, P K Laheri, Nishigandh Deshpande, Shailesh Parekh, Jayant Meghani, Bhaven Kachhchhi, Pavan K Verma, Gurdeepsinh Sappal, Kumarpal Desai, Martin Macwan, and Navin Joshi.“Our purpose is not [to show] allegiance to any single party, ideology, or sect, but to select the finest articles from various printed socio-literary sources and bring them on to a single platform for all Gujarati readers around the world,” Raval and Mashruwala said.Inspired by erstwhile ‘Milap’ magazine, reimagined for the digital ageThe idea of ‘Vachan Milap’ is inspired by ‘Milap’, a similar magazine of curated content that was founded decades ago in Gujarat by the late Mahendrabhai Meghani, the eldest son of the legendary Gujarati writer-poet Jhaverchand Meghani.Story continues below this adMahendrabhai is known for the massive effort he made to promote good reading among Gujaratis through various initiatives. ‘Milap’, which was published from 1950 through 1978, was Mahendrabhai’s landmark initiative – a platform that brought together selected articles in Gujarati.In their note announcing the ‘Vachan Milap’ digital magazine, Raval and Mashruwala acknowledged the inspirational role played by ‘Milap’ in their endeavour.“Decades ago, when Mahendra Meghani created a similar beacon-like bridge through ‘Milap’, times were different, but the goal was the same… Reviving that very spirit, we bring to you ‘Vachan Milap’ through Ekatra Foundation,” they wrote.On its website, Ekatra says it has been working since 2010 to “keep the rich heritage of Gujarati literature alive and make it accessible on a global scale”. Ekatra, it says, “digitises rare literature and periodicals by leveraging technology”, and has published ‘Sanchayan’, a periodical of “timeless literary masterpieces” since 2013.Story continues below this ad“On the Ekatra platform, you can enjoy the finest literary works selected by various editors from the rich heritage of Gujarati language, along with heartwarming audiobooks and informative podcasts covering world literature,” the nonprofit says about itself.In audio format too; rapidly gaining traction among consumersTo reach out to a wider pool of consumers, the creators of ‘Vachan Milap’ have provided an audio summary of the contents, containing a gist of the entire issue of the magazine.“Those who are really busy can at least listen to the audio summary. After that they can read the article(s) as per their choice,” Oza said.Raval, who lives in the US and is the son of the former Vice-Chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith Govind Raval, said the response to the online magazine has been encouraging, with more than 500 requests for subscriptions in less than a week.Story continues below this adPoet and writer Harshad Trivedi, who is the president of the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad, the historic 121-year-old Gujarati literary organisation based in Ahmedabad, said: “The pervasive impression is that nobody in the younger generation reads literature. But I do not agree entirely… This is because we have not made enough good reading available to them.”According to Trivedi, “sensible youths have started to develop an interest in reading”. “They have got tired of mobile phones and social media; here I am talking about sensible people and not those who have gotten addicted to it,” he said. “These (sensible) people have the curiosity to read, but they get stuck in the absence of proper guidance. My personal experience is that the new generation has an interest in reading, and if they get the best literature, they do read.”According to Trivedi, “It is the sacred duty of those who have knowledge of literature to guide the younger generation towards good reading.”