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Reviving ‘once upon a time’

If you thought today’s children were too jaded by all the entertainment options available to them to be excited by good old storytelling, these modern storytellers could spin you a different tale.

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The world is a book of inexhaustible tales when looked at with the wonder of a child’s eyes. This may be the century when kids are adept at browsing the Internet or flicking channels on TV, but there’s nothing that beats the live experience. At least, that’s what Hoo's’ Tales, hosted by Hippocampus Home Library, proved with the third International Festival of Stories by bringing together people who love the art of telling stories.

According to those in the business of narrating tales, the future of storytelling seems to be having a happy beginning. “Live shows are valued for the same reason that they are live,” says Jeeva Raghunath, who is telling stories and holding workshops as part of Hoo’s Tales. “It’s just getting better and better,” she says.

But storytelling comes in many guises. Anurupa Roy, founder and managing trustee of Delhi-based Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust should know. “Television and the Internet are not competition for live storytelling. We have never had a problem with children. It is parents who need convincing about puppetry as an effective method of storytelling,” says Roy.

Roy disagrees with the word ‘puppet show’ being associated with a visual of brightly attired puppets being shaken furiously by the hands that move their strings to the accompaniment of loud music and dialogue: “We force them to like it. The idea that actors need to pretend to be children is simply obnoxious and often children reject it. Treat children like equals.” Roy’s next observation comes as a surprise: “We have held shows where there is no dialogue and kids have loved it.”

The universal tool of visuals is just as effective, affirms Roy, “Storytelling is a wide word. While the novelty factor is important, children appreciate shows where the story is played out in a subtle manner.”

The audiences are many and varied too. To begin with, whoever said stories were only for children? Raghunath has been telling stories for 12 years — to corporate company employees, to counsellors and children. “It is all about the content. We have presented a discourse on war, based on the Mahabharata. It is for adults,” says Roy mentioning the many themes the trust has worked on for adults, including satire and comedy.

She does hold, though, that the choice of stories should be “seriously thought out. One should be able to distinguish between adult and children’s shows.” “The content can revolve around any topic,” says Roy, who holds a diploma in puppet theatre from Sweden and has many productions to her credit. Her passion has seen her participate in puppet shows around the world.

Raghunath selects the stories she presents on the basis of whether they “touch (her) heart”. She also relies on the mood of the audience to decide on the story she will narrate. She uses gestures and expressions along with voice modulations, but keeps props out of her shows. “I use everything from my head to my toes to tell my story,” she says, laughing.

Having been in the children’s book publishing business, Raghunath knows what clicks in children. It was while working on a translation and later presenting it that she realised she had a talent for storytelling. Now, nine countries later, the fulltime storyteller sounds as thrilled about presenting in Bangalore.

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