In a Story Telling Festival





The winter eve was lazy as ever. Dogs curled up in corners, unwilling to bark. Forget the lazy cloud and the shameless sun engaged in their deep slumber even as my clock ticked 2’o clock. Motionless trees have disconnected themselves from the wind around. As I walked past the gates of IGNCA, I was led to an open stage facing rising layers of semicircles seating the audience. The cushions wrapped in white cloth were placed over seating and ground left red carpeted. The branches and leaves of Peepal tree roofed the open stage sketching an ancient India into the space. Lighted uncolored bulbs were knitted on to the leaves painting eyes to the uneyed, yet the unblind trees. With its hundred eyes gazing at the stage waiting for the stories from across the world, its green leaved head let the calm breeze swing it to her winter symphony. Only her head and part of her brown rooted neck was visible for the people populating the space above the land. 

A Hungarian Story
Crowd was brimming kids eagerly waiting for their stories. Well the age of kids varied from 2 to 92. The event was peopled with kids ranging from preschools, primary schools, college , middle aged and retired octogenarians. Who said age defines the child in humankind?  2 year olds with their grandma, middle aged women with their kids and husband, gangs of children accompanied by a large family, college going ,quite hot, ladies  and Arjun Karun , myself J sat with their eyes fixed on the stage. The event was organized by Nivesh , an NGO, and IGNCA, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts. The event was also supported by British Council and Hungary India Cultural Centre. 


As the panel discussion ended, the Sarah Rundle, a British Story teller, set the mood of the eve. She was specializing on the Silk Route stories. The historical Silk route that cuts through Central Asia connecting Japan, China, India, Iran, Afghanistan, Arabia and Europe. Culture, science, religion, conquests, treasure and goods, all flowed through the highways of Silk Route into the various human civilizations. Arabic stories adapted into Chinese myth, Italians myths that trace back to Indian civilizations and Slavic fantasies with Mongolian origin. 


She began with a story of Onibaba, an old nanny who went in search of a liver of an unborn baby and went on with Chinese story “ The Donkey Inn”. To board the  silk route fairy tale ride of Sarah Rundle, wait for a few more days. Uploading soon…  :D
Wait a bit more for stories ! :D

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