A story in motion

Amarjot Kaur

With stories like Goldilocks and Snow White and Seven Dwarfs, which led children to believe the conventional idea of a ‘beautiful’ little girl, and poems like Baba Black Sheep that point at the slave trade in South America; there’s no point refuting the fact that most story tales do build a certain kind of stereotype. Perhaps, this very idea of ‘conditioning’ children through stories and fairy tales made Vikram Sridhar undertake storytelling as a career, which he fondly refers to as a ‘performing art’.

“Like every South-Indian, I am an engineer; storytelling is a passion,” shares Vikram, who was in the city to perform at Dikshant school. “In my understanding, children are a very happy lot and they don’t really need stories. They observe. However, as a story-teller, I shoulder the responsibility of interpreting a story for both kids and adults. The idea is to break away from stereotypes and unlearn a lot of things,” he says.

While Vikram started looking at storytelling as a tool to addressing stereotyping, he included various aspects of theatre; Kalaripayattu, an ancient martial arts form and classical music to his storytelling. “Every storyteller has a unique form. Acting on stage is in a more restricted form when you are storytelling. I love the play of expressions and interacting with the audience too, while making them feel like a part of the story,” he adds.

As he talks about the challenges, one of which is to make people unlearn the stereotypes, he shares that this is a relatively new form of art in India and connecting with the audience on a personal level can be a little tiresome. “I need to connect with people on an emotional level. That connection doesn’t need a language. In India, language is important and varies from rural to urban audience, but that depends on the artiste’s prerogative. I express through expressions and body language; children don’t need any language. When I smile, a child smiles, and when I cry, they cry. Language is a spoon with which you feed the story, but it’s the food that nourishes,” he says.

Vikram considers storytelling as a journey and “needs to travel a little more to understand the financial stuff”, but for now, he balances it with other things. “A story a day keeps the doctor away, as it nourishes you... the story that you heard make the world today and stories you share make the world of tomorrow,” he signs off.

amarjot@tribunemail.com