Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Sept 20: Four-year-old Aryan Gautam loves listening to Amar Chitra Katha stories on his father’s PC which has been recently bought from an e-commerce site. The catchy voice of the narrator complimented with background music is what Aryan likes to hear. He often urges others of his family to sit with him and enjoy the stories.
Abhishek Singh, a builder by profession, says technological intervention has given parents an opportunity to inculcate good manners in growing children. He says, “Nowadays there are numerous audio books available in the market that cater to the needs of growing kids and also help busy parents ensure proper grooming of their kids. Kids get to listen to good stories with moral values that help shape their personality and inculcate good habits in them.”
Like Abhishek there are others who are trying to use technological intervention to facilitate storytelling. Many believe such aids have helped in keeping the tradition alive. There are many who are toiling hard to give the kids the option to listen to their favourite stories.
Ajay Dasgupta, founder of Kahaani Project, has been toiling hard with a few volunteers to make a repository of some of the stories told by grandparents to grandchildren. According to him, his initiative has helped a lot of kids, especially visually-impaired kids to listen to some of the stories which they find it difficult to read.
He says, “We started the project in 2013 with a few volunteers to create a repository of stories meant for children below the age of 12 years. We have also installed kiosks in some blind schools for the kids to listen to the stories whenever they feel like. It has come as a boon to them and is empowering them by giving them an option.”
Swabhiman, a city-based trust working for the disabled, has also started a mission to make audio books available to kids who find it tough to read stories.
Asit Mohanty, programme manager, Swabhiman, says, “We started the project in 2011. Through our project we are going to change the entire delivery mechanism for education for the visually-impaired. We are recording the entire curriculum and other useful texts and manuals so that students can listen to all they want to learn.”
Many online e-commerce websites are now flooded with audio books which parents can order for their kids. Also, many mobile applications and podcasts have entered the market to cater to the needs of storytelling by employing convenient methods.
Podcasts and mobile applications like The Moth, True Story, Snap Judgment and others are now highly sought after by kids and parents. Most of the makers of these audios say that mythology and non-fiction audio books are in demand. Others say that horror stories are still favourites.