Storytelling-Journey from Unknown to Known

Glimpses of listening to various stories told by my paternal grandmother were perhaps one of the most beautiful days of my childhood. Most of the stories told by her would be connected to Sri Vaishava philosophy, mythology, and also some humorous stories based on her personal experiences encountered which she would very skillfully create into a story and tell.

My journey of listening to the stories began then. I somehow liked to listen to a person's life experience-be good, bitter, challenging, adventurous, or an amusement kind, I enjoyed listening to them thoroughly. My favorite storytellers are vegetable sellers, a cobbler, flower sellers, maidservants-domestic workers, milkmen or milkmaids, masons, tailors, old women, and so on. Each one had something interesting to share. This helped me again, to understand the cultural aspects of various religions, caste, class, creed, and so on. My grandmother perhaps belonged to the earliest form of storytelling- usually oral combined with gestures and expressions.

Then, it was spending some time with my father, who is an excellent storyteller with dramatic effects. Whereas, my father belonged to a neo-modern school of storytelling that would even tell stories from fairy tales, folktales, fables, and so on. Listening to him, I learned more about literary context, religion, historical references and again, how to write a story and what are the benefits of listening to stories.

As a puppeteer, I read a lot of stories from various parts of the world. I call myself a Contemporary storyteller, I widely use to address educational objectives using storytelling as a technique. I like folk stories from different regions the most and their connectivity with the human race.

I find storytelling as the best way to teach children smaller concepts of society, language, science, natural objects, animals, and nature as a whole. “Stories of ‘Sun and Moon’, ‘Stories of numbers’, ‘Seed germination’, ‘caterpillar’, ‘Hippopotamus’…, heroic person, empowered lady, warrior.. oh, there are so many.

I am smitten by the stories ‘A Hummingbird and the Forest’, ‘Punyakoti-the Cow’, ‘The Mightiest in the World’, ‘

One such story is given below:

"One day a terrible fire broke out in a forest - a huge woodland was suddenly engulfed by a raging wildfire. Frightened, all the animals fled their homes and ran out of the forest. As they came to the edge of a stream they stopped to watch the fire and they were feeling very discouraged and powerless. They were all bemoaning the destruction of their homes. Every one of them thought there was nothing they could do about the fire, except for one little hummingbird. This particular hummingbird decided it would do something. It swooped into the stream and picked up a few drops of water and went into the forest and put them on the fire. Then it went back to the stream and did it again, and it kept going back, again and again and again. All the other animals watched in disbelief; some tried to discourage the hummingbird with comments like, "Don't bother, it is too much, you are too little, your wings will burn, your beak is too tiny, it’s only a drop, you can't put out this fire." And as the animals stood around disparaging the little bird’s efforts, the bird noticed how hopeless and forlorn they looked. Then one of the animals shouted out and challenged the hummingbird in a mocking voice, "What do you think you are doing?" And the hummingbird, without wasting time or losing a beat, looked back and said, "I am doing what I can."

-- Sources: http://www.wangfoundation.net/humming_bird.pdf

The same story is retold differently by many across the globe. The Hummingbird is replaced by a sparrow or a tiny bird. The description differs.

Excellent story that has relevance to present-day issues and provides solutions. It can be applied by the policy makers towards alleviation of problems, in the management of organizations, by social and cultural ambassadors.

A successful storyteller creates magic by narrating a story, and going into the characters- role-playing, sparkling dialogue. Singing songs and rhythmic rhymes, body movement, and dance. Telling in the past tense, and in the present tense. Utilization and involvement with the space and the audience.


Storytelling has many benefits:

A journey from known to unknown-like going on a picnic

This leads to mapping-slowly building in, encountering challenges, climbing a high mountain

A story within a story-End of the story leading to the start of a story…connectivity

Answers-WH questions (Why, What, Where, When & How)

Develops language skills,

Language skill enhances communication skill,

Communication skill builds confidence,

Confidence helps in new learning-reading, writing, vocabulary building

This helps in developing imagination and cognitive development

Cognitive skills improve listening skills, Which improves memory skills and concentration.

This in turn creates joyful interest in learning new aspects

This inculcates reading and writing habits.

This opens up for better understanding of culture, social norms, and values

This tackles behavioral related issues.