There is something about the drive to Mangalore that always slows life down a little.
If you have taken that road from Bangalore, you know what I mean. The long winding highways, the gradual shift from the city’s chaos to the quiet greens, the occasional mist hugging the hills, and those stretches where the road simply asks you to breathe.
I started the drive in the evening. It was one of those beautiful dusks where the sky slowly dissolves into orange and purple. The traffic thins, the air becomes cooler, and the journey begins to feel like a story unfolding.
By the time I reached my native place near Mangalore, it was already late night. The kind of night where everything is quiet except the distant sound of insects and the comforting thought that you are home.
Two days later, it was time to drive back to Bangalore.
And somewhere between those two journeys, the highway, the silence, and the rhythm of the road, I listened to a handful of audiobooks. Short stories mostly. The kind that stay with you longer than the time they take to finish.
Here are the ones that travelled with me.
The Lottery
Shirley Jackson
Oh god… this is pure masterclass storytelling.
Such a simple village setting. Such ordinary people. And yet the story quietly builds something unsettling underneath it all. By the end, you just sit there thinking how brilliantly disturbing it was.
Jackson does something magical here. She lets the horror reveal itself slowly, almost politely.
The Gift of the Magi
O. Henry
What a remarkable story.
People often say that this is the wisest of gifts, and once you read it, you understand why. It is simple, tender, and quietly heartbreaking in the most beautiful way.
O. Henry reminds us that love often lives in the smallest sacrifices.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qlj_0X3uYk
The Mark on the Wall
Virginia Woolf
Another beautiful read.
It feels less like a story and more like sitting inside someone’s thoughts. Woolf has this incredible way of turning something as small as a mark on a wall into a deep meditation about life, memory, and perception.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5y6v8V4b0I
The Poor Traveller
Charles Dickens
Well… it’s beautiful.
Dickens has this warmth in his storytelling that makes even the smallest narrative feel rich and human. It felt like listening to someone gently narrate life as it passes by.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jX9GzS3z1g
The Empire of the Ants
H. G. Wells
This one… will irk your skin.
Uff. It is ghostlier than Poe in its own strange way. There is something deeply unsettling about it. Wells manages to turn something tiny and ordinary into a creeping nightmare.
Of all the stories on this trip, this one stayed with me the most.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sP2t7hXnPg
Snow White – A Brothers Grimm Fairytale
Jacob Grimm
A beautiful read indeed.
We all know the story, but hearing it again reminds you how timeless these old tales are. Simple. Dark in places. Yet full of wonder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4AqkYQkKk0
Strawberry Spring
Stephen King
Well… ghostly indeed.
King has this way of making you feel like something is not right long before you can explain why. By the end of it, you feel a chill that lingers a little.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm9b8Y4E6oU
The Bum
W. Somerset Maugham
Loved it.
Maugham has this calm observational tone that makes his characters feel incredibly real. There is always a quiet insight hidden beneath the story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzxW9l2r5pE
The Birthday Girl
Haruki Murakami
Ah… and then there is Murakami.
I re-read The Birthday Girl again on this trip. Maybe for the 10th time. I have honestly lost count.
This was the first Murakami story I ever read, and in many ways it opened the door to his strange and magical universe for me. Since then I think I have read almost 80% of his books.
And yet this tiny story still fascinates me.
It is simple. A girl. A birthday. A mysterious restaurant owner who offers her a wish.
Murakami does what he always does best. He leaves you with a quiet mystery and walks away.
You sit there thinking about it long after the story ends.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p2r8VvQX9Q
My favourites from this road trip
If I had to pick my favourites from this little highway listening session, these would be the ones:
- The Empire of the Ants – H. G. Wells
- The Gift of the Magi – O. Henry
- The Lottery – Shirley Jackson
- The Birthday Girl – Haruki Murakami
Four completely different stories. Four completely different moods. Yet each one unforgettable.
Travel and books have always gone well together. Sometimes the road moves outside the window, and sometimes the story moves quietly inside your mind.
