The power of storytelling through online sessions

Keeping in mind the power of storytelling, Simply Stories, an initiative that keeps the tradition of oral storytelling alive in the city, has come up with an online storytelling narration called Home Story Series where they share stories from myths, folktales and classics.

 “The idea of doing something online was going on in our mind before the lockdown was announced. While chatting with family and friends, we realised that everyone was talking about coronavirus. Being storytellers, we thought the best way to engage people during lockdown would be through stories. This was also a way to keep us motivated by focussing on something positive. That’s how we started an online storytelling session called Home Story Series,” says Shweta Balambal, co-founder of Simply Stories. She says that the online sessions have kept her busy throughout the day. “I started reading different stories before I finally chose one,” she adds.

In the live sessions they organises in the city, they used to narrate stories for 20 minutes. But, that’s not the case while sharing stories online, says Karthik Krishna, co-founder of Simply Stories. “We try and keep the storytelling duration from 5 to 10 minutes. So, we do a mix of stories – classics, folktales, and interesting feel-good stories. For example, we narrated a story called Radio Raga — it was the story of Jhumri Telaiya’s, a little town in Jharkhand, fondness for radio music,” says Karthik.

Their narrations include tea trails (how tea became popular in the country), stories of Vikram and Betal and so on. “In one of the sessions, we narrated how Chandamama comics became popular over the years and how the classic played an integral role in shaping the reading habits of children across the country. The response to the online story narrations has been good so far. Many said they were happy to relive their childhood through the stories,” Shweta asserts