Varun Narain has worked with puppetry and development communications with a number of NGOs such as Sakshi, IFSHA, UNIFEM and UNESCO on HIV/AIDS related issues and child abuse related issues. He was the first artist-in-residence to be facilitated by Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council, New Delhi, in 2007 at the Schlachthaus Theater, Berne, Switzerland.
His puppetry and education interface has seen him conduct masterclasses in puppetry techniques at the Pearl Academy for Fashion Design and for UNIMA India (Union Internationale de la Marionette) as well as workshops in gender and sexuality, using puppetry as a tool to talk about stereotypes and prejudice at the South Asia Youth Peace Conference.
Have your reading preferences changed over the years?
My likes keep evolving, but there are a few books that remain my first preference even today, despite the influx of new material. These are the complete works of JRRTolkien, Lewis Caroll, Charles Dickens, CS Lewis, Agatha Christie, Dr Daisaku Ikeda, Oscar Wilde, Umberto Eco, Hans Christian Andersen, Daphne Du Murier... to name a few. I could read any of these works again and again and be as informed, entertained and engrossed each time.
What do you like to read?
I like to read books that have a convincing story and tell it efficiently without pretending to be important. I like books that respect their characters and don’t introduce characters just to be sensational.
What kind of writing puts you off?
Preachy writing, with smart glib bits and abusive language just to sound cool. Books that claim to tell the reader what is ‘wrong’ with their way of life or books that claim to hold all the answers to life, but provide no real substance. Also, books that reveal their authors haven’t really ‘lived’ what they write about.
What about the written word is it that visual /audio mediums cannot fulfill?
The written word is, as Marshall Mcluhan once put it, is 'a hot medium'. It provides privacy to the reader and allows them to journey into a story on their own terms and imagine it in their own way. Unlike the visual media that presents an already existing imagination to engage with.
The audio world is also a very exciting medium and can create an exciting space entirely different to that of the written word or the visual world. Each written, visual and audio worlds have their own strengths and can not replace each other.