"Parents are short of time, so bedtime stories don't remain a priority," says Anupa Lal, writer of children's books, who has been storytelling at schools for several years. "Apart from just narrating a story, storytelling sends the message that children are loved, and that adults have time to spend with them. After bedtime stories, there's a stage when parents and children also read together, which strengthens bonds."
More than building a connect between parents and children, storytelling gives an insight into different dimensions of life and provides an "anchor" to our cultural traditions. "Stories allow access to different aspects of humanity, and it is important to sensitize kids to a larger world outside their own," says Sanjoy Roy of Teamwork Productions, which is presenting a two-day storytelling festival, Kahaani, in the city on November 17 and 18, together with Pratham Books and Pathways School.
Through art forms like puppetry, poetry, music, written and oral traditions, and interactive sessions with the audience, the festival hopes to preserve the art of storytelling.
Stories may be associated more with children, but those in the field say it's relevant across ages: "Everybody and everything is a story," says Anirudh Nair, director, Wide Aisle Productions. "We cannot disconnect fictional stories from the human element, because people engage with them when they can see a kernel of their life in them. It makes you feel you're not alone, yet the fictional setting gives enough distant so one is not afraid to confront it," he says.
For the storytelling festival, they are performing Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, focusing on the lovers. "His plays are set in olden times but they show that our core values and emotions remain the same. The themes of love, unrequited love, or chasing love are eternal," says Nair. Besides, good stories hold different meanings each time a person revisits them, says Lal, so age only enhances the experience of listening to or reading stories.
There are arguments that television, films, and even the internet are all forms of storytelling, so the need for turning the pages of a book or listening to grandmother's tales may be redundant. But the imagination that books or verbal storytelling allows cannot be replicated in these "instant" forms of storytelling, says Roy. "The act of switching on a television is so easy that there is no creative involvement. Our economy is driven by imagination — even 'jugaad' is an example — and it is the way forward. Kids are born with an active imagination and we need to nurture it," he says.
Though television has its own charms and cannot be negated in any way, there is something special about performances "happening in the now", says Dadi Pudumjee of Ishara Puppet Theatre. "It's about imparting laughter, tears, emotion, and letting each person take back what they want," he says.
The depth to which storytelling is ingrained in Indian culture makes its preservation imperative. "We stand to lose our traditional art forms, like koodiyattam, which is the oldest surviving form of storytelling. We have to find ways to make them more contemporary and relevant without compromising on artistry to engage the younger generation," says Nair.
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