What's ironical when reading reviews for Ajaya: Roll Of The Dice on Audible, Amazon's audiobook platform launched in India last year, is that users still refer to the experience as 'reading'. One of them says, "must read for all who wants to see the other side of Dharmayudh! (sic)" It's a testament not only to the writing of Ananda Neelakanthan, but also the voice of Siddhanta Pinto, who spent a painstaking 24 hours reading out the book and recording it at his Worli studio, Ofspin Media Friends.

In the last one year, Pinto, 40, has recorded 15 books for Audible, ranging from Chetan Bhagat's 2 States to non-fiction titles like Fali S Nariman's The State of The Nation, "which he says gave him great perspective" when Article 370 was abrogated and the state of Jammu and Kashmir was split into two Union Territories. Pinto, who started his career in 2001 at a communications firm, moved to radio in 2003 as a marketing executive, says when he was given his first book to narrate, it was a gig that came from a former student whom he'd taught at a radio course. His reaction was what of any purist: why listen and not read? But, just as Pinto's voice grows into your head 10 minutes into listening Ajaya, the idea of narrating books too has grown on him.