As Robert McKee quoted, "Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today." The art of storytelling dates back to ancient times. Stories create their space in the ancient caves to the bedtime stories told to the kids by their grandparents. In fact, stories make up our history and curate the future.
It is indeed that stories are powerful and has the power to create an impact. Stories can teach us morals, can entertain us, allow us to think in a very different way, can also make us cry and laugh. It also helps in making people connect to each other and makes the bond strong. Stories also talk about a country's culture and help us in understanding the roots.
To celebrate the stories, the art of storytelling, and storytellers, BananiVista Media organized a storytelling event on 23rd June 2019. Let's have a look at the storytellers who mesmerized the audience with their brilliant performances:
- Vedaprana Purkayastha: A dreamer and a wanderer as she likes to introduce herself as strongly believe that everything we see or feel strongly believes that everything we see or feel; everything we are, can be turned into stories. Known mostly for her Facebook group The Saree Saga, she has dared to dream to bring Assam Handloom in the foray, owing to her love for her state's textile industry, and is slowly moving towards her goal. According to her, Storytelling is the only way to bring in positive changes in this world. Everything we see around is a story, everyone we come across has a story. We just need to keep our eyes and ears open and life will be no less than a fairytale.
Vedaprana chose to share a personal story of how she becomes a confident person today by pushing herself beyond her comfort zone, challenging her own self to follow her dreams.
Vedaprana Purkayastha
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HarshVardhan Singh Chauhan: He is a techie, a poet, and an avid traveler. When asked him about his thoughts on Storytelling, he said, "It gives me the power to do a lot many things sitting at a place. I can connect to hundreds of people through one story. I can time travel through one story. I can build my own world through one story and what not. Harsh spoke about a story of childhood and the journey till date. He engaged the audience with his words, voice and the perfect plot.
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HarshVardhan Chauhan
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Priya Muthukumar: A performance storyteller and is the founder of the storytelling initiative, Storipur, Bangalore. She goes entirely bonkers when she comes across an interesting story. She has to let it out, she has to tell the story! And that's how she became a storyteller. She has told stories in schools, colleges, museums, parks, literature festivals, corporate offices, railway stations, etc. to children and adults across different backgrounds. Priya shared a story which gives us a glimpse of a different culture as she believes stories are the best way to know one's culture.
Priya Muthukumar
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Ankush Srivastava: An MBA student, a passionate poet and a person full of emotions, Ankush Srivastava try to touch the hearts of his audience through his words and voice.
"Storytelling is life for a person like me, who loves to pen down his emotions and experiences and reach out to his audience", Ankush expressed. He shared a story titled 'Best student of the year', a true story from the year 2003. It is about the love of a brother and about the prestigious award every student wants to get in the school.
Ankit Srivastava
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Jeremy Solomon: A theatre facilitator at Oasis International School and also runs J.J Theatric.
"Storytelling is proof that we need each to survive, else a community can be driven to madness — with no outlet for leisurely communication. Unfortunately, traditional storytelling is a dying art. These days, people prefer to be told a story through a movie or television, industries that run in capitalism. It is because of this, I feel, storytelling, in its truest essence, must be kept alive, and passed on to future generations", Jeremy expressed.
Jeremy narrated the story 'The Clock above the Chalkboard'. It was written from personal experiences, both from me as a child in school, and now as a teacher in school. However, it has underlining tones of power, authority, and perceptions.
The story revolves around a boy who has a need to satisfy a primal need but isn't allowed to. The build in which he does so is what drives the story.
Jeremy Solomon
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Ankush Tiwari: "Storytelling for me is like fire for the ice, Sky for the earth, complementary to each other. It's a blend of my experiences, imagination, and observations." Ankush said.
Ankush is the most prominent young Hindustani performing artist in India who writes and passionately performs in Hindi blend with Urdu.
From my story, "the best teacher in the world is your childhood and your mother, winning must not be the final destination but courage to keep fighting is what makes your life worth living".
Ankush Tiwari
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