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.

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