Sometime last year I was at my desk at office and overheard one of the colleagues mentioning “చిలకమర్తి లక్ష్మీనరసింహం” (Chilakamarti Lakshmi Narasimham) while talking to another on the floor. I was zapped and could not resist my temptation to have a look at who that was.
As I thought, that was a young guy perhaps in his late twenties. He was talking to one of the technology managers. This team works on latest technologies and naturally hires great talent. But someone who has a taste for Telugu literature? Out of the ordinary.
He was talking to his manager who incidentally is one of my close friends in the company. So I did not waste a minute to walk over and introduce myself to this new guy. Also I did I not hesitate to tell him how pleasantly I was surprised to overhear him mentioning a legendary Telugu writer whom most of my contemporaries may not have read about. During that conversation, this boy introduced me Dāsubhāṣitaṃ (దాసుభాషితం తెలుగు లలిత కళావేదిక) mobile App.
I don’t know how many other audio book reader apps / podcasts are available out there on Google Play Store or Apple App Store. But other than Spotify podcasts, I only use this app since then and heard a handful of podcasts in Telugu on this. I found the best time to play is while on commute to (and from) office.
These days I find many audio books are priced on this app but the there a few free books too.
Navigation and search is not a great user experience, though.
I would recommend you to try and listen to Telugu books if you don’t have time to read. You will find variety of audio books like Ganapati (గణపతి) by Chilakamarti (చిలకమర్తి); Mithunam మిథునం by Sriramana (శ్రీరమణ); Viveka Chudamani (వివేక చూడామణి) by Adi Sankara (ఆది శంకర) and the like.
If you like this App, don’t thank me but thank my young friend.
Happy exploring.