The Art Of Storytelling

Yuval Noah Harari, in his book, Sapiens, says human evolution sustained on gossip. I would like to substitute the word gossip, which is too colloquial a term, in my view, to storytelling.

Imagine our primitive ancestors – the forager hunter gatherers operating individually or in groups and how they must have shared with other similar groups or individuals about greener pasture, better hunting facilities, sharper hunting weapons and substantial numbers of prey, thereby, ensuring their own subsistence as well as maintaining ecological balance, till scarcity of supply made them more competitive and migratory.

The folklore, tales and fables of agrarian society are very well known to us. The dwellers gathering in the evenings exchanged notes through stories of day to day happenings or perhaps heresays. Simultaneously, when traders followed the spice, silk and other commerce routes for economic activities they brought along stories of their land and culture. They took back, along with them, the stories about ways of life and culture of this land. It is interesting to note that this carriage of inputs, by word of mouth, though seemingly mundane or meagre, must have wielded a significant share of  influence on flourishing trade and commerce between both the lands.

In the mediaeval era, the runners , travelers, traders , poets, bards, courtesans regaled the kings and their trusted men and courtiers with songs, verses and tales of other kings and kingdoms which either led to war or strategic alliances. These stories spilled out of the corridors of the grand palaces and became talking points of the subjects, graduating sometimes into legends and myths and sometimes getting quietly, clinically chronicled in the annals of court historians.

The Industrial Revolution saw a spurt in scientific inventions and discoveries through voyages. Voyagers navigated nautical miles to carry marvelous stories about new lands and people resulting in the establishment of colonies and consolidation of empires. With the invention of printing and publishing stories gained a level higher. Readership became more widespread. Periphery of discussion surrounding a news, article, essay or merely a fictitious account exponentially expanded. Now written words accelerated into being palpably powerful vehicles of educating people and building public opinions. The pen became mightier than the sword – having the ability to revolutionize thinking, reform systems, topple ruling dynasties and classes and reflect the changes in societies for better or for worse.

In our own country we had our indigenous brand of storytellers called kathaks or kathakars who narrated the latest social and political happenings in different parts of the land through dance and dramatics or abhinaya. The classical dance form of kathak took birth from this novel storytelling of kathakars.

During British rule, in feudal Bengal kobir lodai or poets’  fight in verses or versified forms and songs between two or more poets and their supporters was another very aggressive form of storytelling. If I have to draw a parallel, the competition of qawwals in the Northern part of the country comes to mind but both kobir lodai and qawwali competition, were essentially quite apart from each other in content and courtesy of language. Then there were pilgrims, wandering monks and saints, nomads, bauls and sufis.  The Vaishnav kirtaniyas who narrated stories about the mundane miseries of commoners through songs of spiritual awakening.

It will, therefore, not be wrong to conclude that storytelling has all along been an integral part of human existence – society, economy, history and polity. I have just tried to give a very broad outline of the continuum of storytelling through different ages here and the few examples of ingenious means and modes of storytelling that I cite here are merely illustrative.

Closer home, in the joint families, there is always  an aunt, uncle or grandfatherly or grandmotherly figure who are the quintessential storytellers or lullaby singers to quieten the brood of little mischief makers.  In school we have learnt and remembered more in classes wherein teachers, instead of reading out from text books, taught us lessons through visuals and conversational forums. In college and university professors widened our intellectual horizon not only through their lectures but more through vibrant and interactive debates and discourses.

For me all these are various and maybe at times unusual formats of storytelling. Stories have taken the form of initiatives. They have been instruments of instigation too. They have been gateways of new ideas. Contrarily, they have also challenged us to discard the obsolete and effete practices and rituals. But nonetheless, in the final analysis, these have always been very important mediums of communication and transmission of technology, information and knowledge and also a delightful source of entertainment.

I have always been very fond of stories. I have, ever since childhood, loved to wander in the imaginary world of fiction. It has been, now I realise, my way of coping with personal upheavals as well. From listening to narrating stories, the transition has been quite automatic and seamless. As a child, when I used to embark on telling a story , everyone scooted off because my stories never had an end… They just went on and on and on. Then came the period when I would watch a movie, read a book or listen to a play on radio and narrate the story in my fanciful, evocative way to my friends and class mates who became my rapt audience.

I guess the same urge brought me to the digital platform. The only difference is now I collect stories from my myriad day to day experiences and memories. At the same time when I read other posts I come to know about other storytellers’ lives, struggles, aspirations and thoughts transcending geographical borders. In doing so I become a part of them and they become a part of me.

Some like to listen to stories and some like to narrate them. But I believe it’s important to encourage each and everyone to tell their stories in their own way, specifically, children because the process of storytelling nurtures creativity and the art of expression and also helps reach  the crux of our own emotions and feelings. It is through stories that we reach each other’s minds, faculties, perspectives, morals and values also and create a zone of intersection – an area of mutual influence and inspiration.

Authors and writers say to tell or write a story you have to keep on reading  too. There are many organisations and institutions who are working towards this goal of involving children to read, listen and tell stories even and more so in this digital age. I have just now come to know of one such wonderful endeavour through ChetnazPage. It’s one enormous project which I would very much like to give my support to by talking and spreading awareness about it.

Hope the community of storytellers on this platform are symbiotically benefitted by reading and telling stories. That is why we all are here, aren’t we? So let’s continue to explore within and without and become part of each other’s stories.

Cheerio!!

Postscript: This is my first post after the eye operation. I still have issues which will take almost a month to be sorted. This post got mainly triggered by Chetna’s post. I have started reading the posts of my co-bloggers too but taking it slow. I hope to read you all gradually in the coming days. Please bear with me.