Books are talking, are you listening?

Audiobooks, or sound clips that read out your favourite classics, may be the perfect therapy for the jaded mind.

There is something about storytelling that never seizes to amaze us. Capturing us with their gestures, expressions and tactical pauses, the raconteur seems to transport us into another world. The world has changed since children had enough time to listen to their grandma's fables; but listening to your favourite stories may not be a thing of the past just yet. Audiobooks, that is books that read aloud on any kind of player, are gaining popularity all over the world. From urban classrooms to rural literacy classes, people are listening hard to books that talk.
Shreya Gupta, a software engineer from Gurgaon, explains why audiobooks appeal to her, "Sometimes, I just want to laze on my bed, sipping a cup of chai, and listening to The Immortals of Meluha. Such audiobooks come in handy when I just want to lie back and relax."

Neha Chopra, a 23-year-old literature student from Mumbai, says, "The commute time from my home to my college is nearly two hours. But I don't feel it because I listen to my audiobook. It prepares me for my classes too." The desire to do more, fit more things into a span of 24 hours often leaves us restless, agitated and despondent. Audiobooks are also for those people, who are craving to absorb as much as they can, but are pressed for time.
Author Ashwin Sanghi says audiobooks work on an adult's mind just like storytelling does on a child's. "Every time we listen to a story, it subconsciously catapults us into a world, which is very different from our own stressful one. That comforting childhood experience of a story being told relaxes the mind. Audiobooks can be therapeutic," he says.
As for children, these are a welcome change as opposed to the dreary television. Anindita Mukherjee, a mother of two from Kolkata, says, "I don't like my kids (aged 6 and 9) spending all their free time in front of the TV. But it's unfair to expect them to sit with a book for hours together. An audiobook CD is the perfect answer because it engages and entertains them at the same time."
Author Aditya Bal feels audio CDs of books are apt for youngsters who stay away from books. "Imagine the odds of an entire book fitting into an audio clip... it will definitely encourage the youth, however lazy they may be, to at least start listening! And that may lead them to pick up a book and start reading."
For hardcore bibliophiles the idea may be radical, but even skeptics aren't pooh-poohing the idea. Sougata Mukherjee, publisher, Pan Macmillan, says, "It's a niche market, but the fact that people are exploring a classic that they would not have read otherwise is quite interesting."
Like author Amish Tripathi puts it, "Books and audiobooks can co-exist and serve different customer bases. Whether you consume a book through the written word or the spoken, what matters is that you have consumed the book, and it has opened up your mind."