It’s rare these days to pause and listen to the stories that once shaped our childhood — tales of kings, warriors, peacemakers and wise minds. There was a time when grandparents gathered children around and narrated stories that transported them into magical worlds. As they spoke, young listeners created vivid images in their minds, bringing characters to life through imagination. That sense of wonder is something many miss today.
Trying to revive that magic is Priya Chowdary, founder of Vinumaree, a platform dedicated to audio storytelling that encourages listeners to slow down, imagine and reconnect with the art of listening. CE speaks to Priya about the idea behind Vinumaree and her journey of bringing stories to life through sound.
Excerpts
How you got the idea of starting Vinumaree?
I started Vinumaree in 2020 during the Covid lockdown. I have always been passionate about reading storybooks since childhood. My parents played a huge role in nurturing that love. My mother narrated stories in a very dramatic way, while my father introduced me to mythological stories.
As a child, I sometimes found mythological films boring, but my father taught me how to truly watch and understand a story. He encouraged me to look at stories as they are instead of immediately interpreting them through my own assumptions. When you do that, your perception changes — you begin to read between the lines and understand the deeper intention behind the narrative. Over time, I realised stories are powerful life lessons. Much of what we call life skills today — perspective, ethics and emotional understanding — I learned from books, my parents and storytelling.
My mother always encouraged me to write. I would rewrite traditional stories and adapt them for today’s generation. The Panchatantra stories introduced by Vishnu Sharma are timeless, but I felt they could be simplified slightly to make them more accessible for modern listeners. That’s when the idea of audio storytelling came to me. When stories are shown visually, imagination becomes limited. But when you listen, you create your own images in your mind. I wanted children to experience the same imaginative freedom I had while growing up.
What were the challenges while creating this platform?
Creating the stories was the easier part. The challenge came when presenting the idea to people. Today, most audiences prefer visual content. Out of ten people, eight would ask me why I wasn’t making videos. I would explain that audio encourages attention and imagination. When you listen carefully, your concentration improves, your vocabulary grows and you process things better. Audio also allows people to relax and listen. The response to the Vemana stories, performed at the US was surprising. Parents even shared videos of their children listening and reacting to them — some of the youngest listeners were babies. That was truly heartwarming.
What was the intention behind involving celebrities?
Quality is extremely important to me. When I reached out to singer Karthik for the title track, he was excited about the idea and delivered beautifully. The music plays an important role in our stories because it helps listeners immediately connect with the mood and theme.
Thanikella Bharani garu is truly the heart and soul of Vinumaree. When we approached him, he instantly supported the idea and appreciated that these stories were being brought to a new generation. Our latest project is Chanakya Neeti, where Thanikella garu narrates the shlokas in Sanskrit while a 11-year-old child explains them in English. The concept symbolises how ancient wisdom can pass from one generation to the next.
How do you plan to take Vinumaree forward?
I want to bring stories from across the world onto the platform. When I was in fourth standard, my father gifted me a book of Ukrainian folktales, which fascinated me. That inspired me to think about creating a global storytelling space. The name Vinumaree itself comes from childhood storytelling traditions. When someone narrated a story, they would pause and say ‘Vinu’, meaning ‘listen’, and the listeners would respond with a soft ‘hmmm’. That small exchange meant the story could continue. Vinumaree is built on that simple idea — listening with attention and imagination.