Pune-based Ajay Dasgupta, an admirer of the gurukul tradition of story-telling, has gone a step beyond admiration to found the Kahani project (estb. 2012). Also accessible online (www.thekahaniproject.com), the project is an archive of audio-recordings of 100-plus stories/poems in English, Hindi, Bengali and Marathi contributed by 50 volunteers. The narratives are digitally recorded by the volunteers, uploaded on the website and are also transferable to simple hand-held devices such as MP3 players for the benefit of the visually challenged. Currently Dasgupta with a team of ten volunteers is training 250 visually impaired children at The Poona School & Home for the Blind (PSHB) to use these devices.

Newspeg. On February 9-10, the Kahani team organised a story-telling competition at PSHB, which was open to students of class I-V and prizes were distributed not only to best narrators, but to best listeners as well. “The competition enabled children to hold a microphone and address an audience for the first time. This is the best method of helping them speak up and gain confidence,” says Dasgupta, a postgraduate in communication studies (film and video) of Delhi University and theatre activist.

History. Having acquired 14 years of experience in human resources, digital media and communication with Bajaj Allianz and Sapient Corporation, Noida, Dasgupta hit upon the idea of engaging vision impaired children with stories while training visually challenged telemarketers for Bajaj Allianz, Pune, where he was head of web media and digital marketing. 

Direct talk. The project team is constantly working on making the website user-friendly to attract more story-tellers. Therefore the website was re-launched with added features in February. “We have introduced simpler processes for volunteers to upload their stories and introduced discussion forums to help build communities of story-tellers,” says Dasgupta. 

According to him, new technologies can greatly enable inclusion. “An electronic device with a simple keyboard can enable visually challenged children to learn from an early age. Government and private tech firms need to look at the possibility of enablement through technology and not just technology as an end in itself,” he advises.

Future plans. Currently Dasgupta is developing a blueprint to provide a cheap internet-enabled device to every visually challenged child, which will connect her to the sea of available media, entertainment and information and put her on a par with peers. But this time he is also looking for a sustainable model. “Initiatives dependent on donations are not sustainable. Therefore our new focus is on making our website self-reliant. In this connection, we are working on creating an application called Kahaniapp for mobile phones and devices, that can be downloaded for a fee of $2 from the website. This will not only create a steady income stream for the project but also enable us to incentivise writers and authors of short stories to share them with us,” says Dasgupta. 

God speed!

Swati Roy (Pune)