BHUBANESWAR: Hu tu tu tu...hu tu tu tu.... resonated at the Odisha Literary Festival venue as storyteller Rituparna Ghosh got into action mode on the stage. Picking a story from her story bag, she was quick to click with her audience, both young and old alike as she narrated a story laced with a heavy message that drawing lines do not make any difference, rather making a place on either side of the line does.
Addressing a gathering during her session “When Imagination Takes Flight: My Bag of Tales, the television producer-turned-storyteller recreated the magic of oral storytelling, where she enacted a story written by her. Reviving the old culture of oral storytelling and the art of narrating in the digital age, Rituparna, with a mission to narrate stories among all generations, drove the audience into a different world altogether.
The story ‘Gilheri Gang’ revolved around a little girl Gudiya, who wanted to be part of a team at the village kabaddi tournament but was denied a chance. Undeterred, she kept pestering the children till she noticed a brave squirrel which made it a point to stop the game by dashing on and off the ground. This routine of the squirrel of making her way taught the girl skills needed to play the game and make a place for herself.
On her journey into the world of storytelling, Rituaparna said, that too had a squirrel connection. During one of her assignments she happened to visit Hussainiwala Chowk in Ferozepur district of Punjab. “At this border post in the evening while filming the beating the retreat parade, I was distracted by a little squirrel which fearlessly went through the feet of the parading soldiers of both the countries and it was able to cross the LOC and that made me think what could be its nationality. I shot a video of the squirrel but it got edited out in the final cut. But the squirrel stayed with me,” explained the founder of Your Story Bag.