HYDERABAD: If anything the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us, it is to slow down and connect with our family members in a better way and listen to each other’s stories. Yes, all of us have stories to share and storytelling is one of the oldest forms of entertainment. To encourage this artform, Artkhoj in association with Vikram Sridhar, theatre practitioner and storyteller, is organising four online storytelling workshops which will be held on January 10, 17, 24 and 31.
Vikram says he has developed the modules based on years of research and all workshops are completely different from one another. The workshop is open to anyone above 18 years and is suitable for teachers, parents, writers, bloggers or anyone who loves telling and listening to stories. The first workshop is named ‘Ethology in Indian Oral Literature’ and aims to connect with the nature.
The 37-year-old artist says right from Jataka tales to Pachatantra, several folklores use birds and animals as their main characters. “Indian mythology is replete with mention of birds and animals. Hindu Gods and Goddess have them as their vahanas and it teaches us to respect nature,” he adds. He says you can learn a lot by just observing flora and fauna from close quarters.
Right from his college days he was involved in wildlife conservation, theatre, and social work, and he tries to combine these three aspects while narrating his stories. He says every object has a story, be it a stapler lying on your table or a skipping rope. “It has a certain character, a life, and a memory that is related to it, and that’s the second workshop --‘Every Object Tells A Story’. It will explore the world of simple joys using the objects around us,” he adds.
Vikram, who has done 100 plus sessions, says storytelling is still in its nascent stage, however, people are warming up to the idea and that’s what motivated him to quit his MNC job, so that he could give his 100 per cent to his passion. Ten years ago he was asked to do a storytelling session at a children home and he stood under a tree and narrated the story. The children were delighted to hear about birds and animals, as he made them privy to a world that did not existed for them till then.
Not just children, even adults find his stories entertaining and they come back with responses like “you made me look at the story from a different perspective”. He says his stories have been evoking a spectrum of emotions and it helps him in getting a better insight into human psychology. His third workshop is about understanding human psychology and is named ‘Know your Antagonist’.
“Every successful movie or book works if we can create a strong antagonist and the workshop explores the journey of an antagonist,” says the sit-down storyteller, that’s what he likes calling himself. The fourth is named ‘Heritage as Stories,’ it will explore ways to connect with our culture and history. “Heritage can be anything from a house door to Hyderabadi Biryani to a book given by your grandparent,” says the Bengaluru-based storyteller, who has presented stories at classrooms, temples, steep wells and several other unconventional venues across the country. Details on ArtKhoj page in Facebook.