Tales That Enthral

Sightless storyteller Giles Abbott, insists that the best part about stories is that they help us disappear into a different reality

A tiny telescope hangs around his neck. He might use that to read this. He looks directly into your eyes while answering. Sometime during the conversation he says that he is never blind in his dreams.

What do you see in your sightlessness, Abbott? “A blast of colour, close to pink. Sadly, pink has never been my favourite. There is never any detail. Imagine looking at the sun for a long time and then looking away. That’s what I see…” he smiles.

Abbott, who was in Chandigarh recently on the invitation of the British Library to hold a storytelling workshop with children, lost his eyesight suddenly, but not totally, 18 years back. In the darkness of his world he discovered tales, as he casually says that stories help in making sense of ourselves and what we don’t understand around. “They tell us about our place in life.”

UK’s only blind storyteller, who tours the world with his tales, insists that sometimes stories come to him and sometimes he goes to them. “They are everywhere, just waiting to be grasped delicately.”