82-year-old Bengalurean turns saviour of the sightless with his audiobooks
If there is one voice that is highly recognised among the visually-impaired in Karnataka, it is of KM Nithyananda. The 82-year-old Bengaluru resident has, for the last two decades, been on a mission to provide knowledge to the blind through his audiobooks. Nithyananda has until now dedicated nearly 30,000 hours to record over 1,000 audiobooks, covering over 1.5 lakh pages.
Among the treasure trove are novels and short stories, books on spirituality and personality development, and guides and reference books on competitive exams, besides, of course, textbooks, from Class V to the postgraduation level. “Audiobook plays a vital role in addressing the issue of dearth of books for visually-impaired students. I’m doing a small service to give something back to the society, which has given me so much,” says Nithyananda. “The students see me, and connect to me, through my voice. This is the most valuable job in my life,” he adds.
Nithyananda first records the content of the books, and then hands over the audio files to Mitra Jyothi, a Bengaluru-based non-profit that works for people with disabilities. It was founded by Madhu Singhal, visually-impaired herself, to help people like her lead an independent life. Nithyananda’s recordings are distributed by the NGO.
“I was inspired by the work of Mitra Jyothi, which prompted me to volunteer for them. Since I had good oratory skills and voice modulation, I began recording the books. That’s how my journey began,” recalls Nithyananda, who began his professional life as a businessman dealing in coffee. A few years later, he took up a job in the pharmacy sector, and gained experience in healthcare. Along with his doctor wife, HS Sheela, he was a part of several medical camps conducted across the state. Nithyananda’s initiative, which began in the form of audio cassettes, has come a long way. The books are now available as audio CDs, and Mitra Jyothi has a full-fledged audiobook library.
Nithyananda now spends about three hours every day to record a book at his house, after which he sends it for further editing and compilation. Many visually-impaired students even request him for special recordings. While some like Latha, who studies MA at the University of Mysore, swear by the academic works of Nithyananda, others such as Suresh CN, a PhD student, have read 20-30 novels recorded by him.
“It is challenging for blind students to take competitive exams or pursue higher studies due to lack of such books in Braille. However, Nithyananda sir is making things easier for us,” says Latha, who wants to become a lecturer. According to her, Nithyananda’s recordings also make the topic easier for students to comprehend. “Even post-graduate Kannada students find Bharathiya Kavya Meemase difficult to understand, but Nithyananda sir’s recording has made it interesting,” explains Latha, talking about the book on Indian poetry written by Kannada writer TN Shrikantaiah.
Nithyananda, who also brought out audio magazine Sanchaya for 13 years, now helps train other volunteers in the vocation. He provides guidance for publication and recording of Spardha Shrunkala, a monthly audio magazine in Kannada that aims to prepare candidates for various competitive examinations. “Nithyananda sir needs no introduction among the visually-impaired community here,” says BR Diwakar, the treasurer of Karnataka Visually Challenged Students’ Conscious Forum. “I have known him for 10 years, and thousands of students have benefited from his service, including many visually-impaired students who have cracked central and state civil services exams,” he adds, pointing out that novels such as Huli Hegge and Bullet Savari recorded by Nithyananda have had a great impact on him. Latha echoes the thought; she has even written a poem titled ‘Dhwani Mahatmaru’ (meaning ‘Voice Mahatma’) on Nithyananda. It’s affection like this which makes Nithyananda go on, even though he realises that technology is making things easier for the disabled now.
Nithyananda has until now dedicated nearly 30,000 hours to record over 1,000 audio books, covering over 1.5 lakh pages