Stories Without Pictures

A holiday with friends is so much fun, especially if it’s a holiday that involves lots of swimming in a pool, playing at a beautiful beach, eating ice cream for breakfast, and tons of silliness. In this story, based on true events, three friends - Nandu, Seher, and Teia, visit Cancun in the country of Mexico. Listen in to find out all the fun they have on their vacation. This original story is written by Nidhi Gupta. Nandu's voice is by 7-year-old Nandita Gautam, Teia's voice is by 6.5-year-old Teia Sekhon, and Seher's voice is by 8.5-year-old Seher Sekhon. Cover art is by Nandita, Teia and Seher. Credits: Gangnam Style by PSY © All Rights Reserved.

In this episode we bring you one of our favourite stories - Amma, there is a bat in my sambar! Written and narrated by Menaka Raman, find out what Suppi and his Amma do when one evening a bat flies right into Suppi’s bowl of sambar! We are super excited to have Menaka Raman as our guest writer and storyteller! Menaka is a published author of many picture books and chapter books for children, including the book “I Love Me”, which was one of the earliest stories on our podcast. Menaka’s characters and stories are endearing, ones that children instantly fall in love with. Amma, There is a Bat in My Sambar! is written by Menaka Raman. © Pratham Books, 2019. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Cover page: Bat inside a bowl of sambar, by Adrija Ghosh © Pratham Books, 2019. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.

Goobe, the Owl is tired and wants to sleep. But it's so noisy everywhere she goes! Can Goobe find a quiet tree to sleep in? Listen in to find out. This guest story is written and narrated by Rashmi Gowda. Goobe's voice is by 4-year-old Yara Roshan and Cookie's voice is by 7-year-old Nandita Gautam. Cover art is by 8-year-old Navya Singh.

Maya's love of the outdoors brings her closer to nature, creating a warm and enduring connection. Join Maya on her many trips to the river bank, be it to play with her animal friends, or to collect juicy mangoes! This original story is written by Namit Chaturvedi. Narrated by Nidhi Gupta. Maya's voice is by 7-year-old Nandita Gautam, and cover art is by Gautam Rao. © All Rights Reserved.

This is a story of a happy little volcano who loves to entertain his friends. What happens when one day the little volcano starts to feel hot and queasy? Listen in to find out. This original story is written by Kaveri Anand Agarwala and Brunda Ganesh. Narrated by Gautam Rao Meenu's voice is by 5-year-old Gayatri Anand Agarwala, and Bogi's voice and cover art is by 7-year-old Kaveri Anand Agarwala. © All Rights Reserved

Kengeri, Durgamma, Latha, and Subbu have reached Gwalior after a long train journey. Join them as they spend an exciting week exploring the rich history and mouth watering delicacies of this wonderful city! This original story is written by Nidhi Gupta. Latha's voice is by 10-year-old Aditi Nikhil Eldurkar, Subbu's voice is by 8-year-old Narayan Rao, and Kengeri's voice is by Namit Chaturvedi. Cover art is by 8-year-old Anaika Kurian and 10-year-old Aditi Nikhil Eldurkar. Special credit: Madhya Pradesh Tourism YouTube channel for excerpts.

Remember when you had to go down to the railway station to book your train tickets? Or the time you had to stop at a telephone booth to make a quick call for directions? Join us as we travel back in time, to an era with no computers or mobile phones and certainly no internet! This story is part of a new series called Published Author Series. Time travelling with Ammamma is written by Shalini Satish as an extension of her 'Young Techie Series' of books for children and young adults. Narrated by Nidhi Gupta, Disha's voice is by 6.5-year-old Kaveri Anand Agarwala and Kavin's voice is by 8-year-old Narayan Rao. Cover art is by 10-year-old Disha Raam.

Gunda, the black and white puppy, is back with a new story in which he wants to play cricket with his friends. Join him as he discovers the cricket ball, in this new and exciting adventure. This is a guest story written and narrated by Rashmi Gowda. Yara's voice and cover art is by 5-year-old Yara Roshan.

Stage Fright is a story about Champa, a little girl who loves to sing, but is terrified of singing in front of a crowd. Listen in to find out if Champa is brave enough to sing on stage at her school's Annual Day. Stage Fright is written by Yamini Vijayan. © Pratham Books, 2018. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Reproduced in an audio format for this podcast with permission from the author. Champa's voice is by 7-year-old Nandita Gautam. Basant's voice is by 6.5-year-old Orion Kapoor. Narrated by Nidhi Gupta. Cover art "Girl singing in front of animals" by Somesh Kumar, © Pratham Books, 2018, under a CC BY 4.0 license on StoryWeaver.

We know that all children are super-special and are born with a superpower. It is only a matter of time when they become aware of it. This first episode of Season 3 is a story about 5-year-old Ammu discovering her really cool superpower! Listen in to find out what Ammu’s superpower is and how she discovers it. This original story is written by Nidhi Gupta. Ammu's voice and coverart is by 7-year-old Nandita Gautam. Ammu's papa's voice is by Namit Chaturvedi. Special Credits: Piano 1: "Hänschen klein" performed by 9-year-old Aditi Nikhil Eldurkar Happy birthday music: "Music Box, Happy Birthday.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org

Zishan, Ruhi and Jalebi find themselves at the center of another exciting mystery - that of the missing shoes! Will they use their amazing problem solving skills along with Jalebi's super sensitive nose to solve this mystery? Listen in to find out. This special episode is part of a new short-story series authored by our young listeners. In this series, we will select and publish original short stories written by children. We invite you write and send us your story. Click here to email us. This original short-story is written by 6-year-old Nandita Gautam. Nandita is also the voice of Ruhi and has created the cover art for the podcast. Zishan's voice is by 12-year-old Varen Singhai and Ms. Kim's voice is by our friend Nisha Thomas.

Gunda, the black and white puppy, isn’t sure if he has any friends! He goes around talking to different creatures as he looks for a friend. Listen in to find out if he makes any! This original story is written and narrated by Rashmi Gowda. Goobe's voice is by 5-year-old Yara Roshan. Cover art is by 6-year-old Kaveri Anand Agarwala.

Little Joey and her friend Jana have their first sleepover. They play games, eat their favourite foods, watch movies and also turn detectives. Listen in to join the fun. This special episode is part of a new short-story series authored by our young listeners. In this series, we will select and publish original short stories written by children. We invite you write and send us your story. Click here to email. This original short-story is written by 9-year-old Aditi Nikhil Eldurkar from Germany. Aditi is also the voice of Joey and has created the cover art for the podcast. Jana's voice is by 6-year-old Nandita Gautam.

Kengeri Kannan and his family are going on a visit to the historical city of Gwalior. In this first part of a two-part story, the family must take a long train journey from Bangalore to Gwalior. We travel with the family on the train and relive our experiences associated with train journeys in India. Lata’s voice is by 9-year-old Aditi Nikhil Eldurkar from Germany and Subbu’s voice is by 7-year-old Narayan Rao from Bangalore. This original story is written by Gautam Rao and Nidhi Gupta. Cover art is by 8-year-old Anaika Kurian.

April is Autism Awareness and Acceptance month, and this story is our attempt to explain to children what autism is. It’s the summer holidays and Ammu meets Dhruv, her best friend’s cousin. Dhruv does not respond to Ammu when she tries to talk to him, and she is sad that he does not want to play with her. Will he go to a play date at Ammu’s home when she invites him? Ammu’s voice is by 6-year-old Nandita Gautam and Aditi’s voice is by 5-year-old Natasha Mahajan. This original story is written by Nidhi Gupta. Shoutout to our friend Archana Haran for helping us find the right words to explain autism to children. The cover art is by our listener 8-year-old Aalya Agarwal from Reston, Virginia. Credits: Piano 1: Reminiscence by Johannes Bornlöf from EpidemicSound Piano 2: See You Clearly by Jon Björk from EpidemicSound

This story takes us on a muscial journey of a little Trumpet's dream of joining a parade. Listen to find out how she pursues this fondest dream of hers that results in her starting a band of her own! This original story is written by published author Niharika Ranjan Singh. Cover art illustrated by Nisheet Shrivastava. © All rights reserved.

Puppy and Friends Detective Agency gets a new case to solve. They must navigate a maze of colours to find out who is trying to cheat at a painting competition. The only problem is that there are 50 suspects and none of them can be questioned. Will Zishan, Ruhi and Jalebi be able to find the cheat and help an honest student whose painting was stolen? Can you solve this mystery before we do? Pause the story, put on your detective hat, and get cracking! This original story is written by Namit Chaturvedi. Ruhi's voice by 6-year-old Nandita Gautam, Navya's voice by 6-year-old Zarya Jain, Zishan's voice by 11-year-old Varen Singhai. Cover art is by 8-year-old Vaari Singhai. Exit music credits: FoolBoyMedia

Anniversary Episode! Our podcast turned one year old this week and we have a special anniversary story for you. So far our characters had all been living in parallel universes, but in this story we brought them all together. And the reason their paths crossed - a storytelling festival for children, in Bangalore. This original story is written by Nidhi Gupta. Ammu and Mishti's voice by 6-year-old Nandita Gautam, Zishan's voice by 11-year-old Varen Singhai, Subbu's voice by 7-year-old Narayan Rao. Cover art is by 10-year-old Kashvi Agarwal.

Kavya and Leela are spending their holidays with their grandparents in Mysore. Over the weekend, when their parents come visiting from Bangalore, the family plans a picnic to a special spot by a river. But a sudden downpour means that they cannot have their picnic near the river. Listen to find out what the family does instead. This is a special story for 5-year-old Pranav Sharma, gifted to him by his cousin Anaika Kurian. This original story is written by Brunda Ganesh. Kavya and Leela are played by 6-year-old Kaveri Anand Agarwala and 4-year-old Gayatri Anand Agarwala. The dad’s character is played by Shrimoy Agarwala. Cover art is also by Kaveri and Gayatri.

Can you imagine a bright sunny day with the skies all grey? Can you imagine that macaws are grey and hummingbirds are white? That the only colour in the sky is the ever yellow sun with none of its fiery red sunrises and sunsets? That is exactly how our world was millions of years ago. But then, thanks to a wonderful macaw called Zuzu, everything changed. Here is a magical tale about how Zuzu and her friends made our skies and rainbows colourful. This is a special story for our 6-year-old friend Kaveri Anand Agarwala gifted to her by her friend Nandita Gautam. Written by Nidhi Gupta. Zuzu's voice is by 7-year-old Tia Jain. The cover art is by 7-year-old Meera Iyer, 6-year-old Nandita Gautam and 7-year-old Tia Jain.