Story telling has been a part of the Indian tradition for centuries. Harikathas and Katha Kalakshepams were part of our ancient lore. The story teller was an important part of the society and many of them were patronized by the rulers of the land.
Story telling has been a part of the Indian tradition for centuries. Harikathas and Katha Kalakshepams were part of our ancient lore. The story teller was an important part of the society and many of them were patronized by the rulers of the land.
Story teller Vikram Sridhar of Chennai was born to Rajini and Sridhar about 35 years ago. He had done his schooling at PSBB and DAV in Chennai. The engineering degree was from SRM and later on he went to IIT Madras for doing his MBA ( Strategy & Marketing ).
Vikram has been a volunteer from the age of 10. Volunteering has been a part of his life and he did his bit with Vishranthi, Cancer Institute, Udavum Karangal etc., over the years. He had been volunteering with the Blue Cross since his SRM days and Sundays were used to help the injured ones. The bachelor shifted to Bengaluru and he spent about 4 years at IBM and a couple of more in an SAP company. It was during his working days that he did some work with the theatre and while continuing with activities connected with urban wild life conservation. " The monkey, snake, bat, mongoose, wild birds etc., are all part of the urban wildlife , " smiled Vikram.
Vikram is a self made guy, Hope you remember Vikram and Vetal. I am Vikram and Vetal is my head. Story telling is now my livelihood and people pay me for it. The age band of my audience is from 4 to 90 years of age. Today most of the story tellers are women. I began to become a self sustaining person by chipping in a part of my expenses even from my student days.
Making chart paper to earn money or taking photocopies in bulk and selling it in retail at 3 times the price was a regular feature. In fact I took a loan for doing my MBA those days. It was during my MBA days that I had wondered why management was used only for corporates and why not for NGOs. I took to theatre in my fourth year of college and it was thanks to a friend who took me to a play reading. I did not understand much thanks to the heavy western English and it went over my head. It was during my MBA days that I acted in the first play under Director Yamuna.
A couple of experienced people were part of the team. Though I was doing theatre, I did not get the comfort level as an artist but I loved it. I was quite comfortable with marketing, ticketing and production etc., Once I went to Bengaluru, Vikram became VIKRAM for I became extremely active by using my after hours for social work, conservation and theatre. Started TAHATTO , a theatre group in the year 2009. I was also doing a research on the temple elephants and at one point of time, I used to know all the temple elephants of Tamilnadu and Karnataka.
It was in the year 2013 that somebody wanted a theatre person to do a story telling session for kids and it started off. It was after the first session that I understood that story telling was limited to kids and that there were issues connected with story telling in the country. Finding out the answer became my journey. I have done hundreds of story telling sessions all over the country. From Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh to Sevagram, I have virtually travelled all over India with my stories. The journey was interesting for it was possible to analyze the story telling traditions of India. I do not use visuals, music or power point. We are so plugged in and its time to see and realize the unplugged world, added the story teller - Vikram.
The story teller speaks about the coconut found as a coconut or in a tetra pack. He is scared that one day the coconut may have to be described. Vikram felt that story telling needs to be preserved and presented to the contemporary world. He says that the story is like a bowl or container.
The water in the bowl could be used to play or bathe or quench a thirst or could be used for religious activities. He says that without a container it will not be possible to have water. Accordingly he states that if the container is the story, the story teller has to make the water relevant to the people. While elaborating further Vikram spoke about the fable ' Hare and the Tortoise ', " This fable was written by Aesop who was spending time in a jail in Egypt.
The tortoise is an ancient species, its mature for it conserves energy by moving slowly. It breathes in a similar manner and its style is akin to the life prolonging pranayamam. We, the human beings are like the hare and are running and jumping all the time. Racing with others and all of us collectively are doing relative racing for there is no horizon in sight. I am reminded of a Swahili proverb at this moment. ' Haraka Haraka Haina Baraka ' , if you move fast fast , you do not feel life. If we use the story of the ' Hare and the Tortoise ' it is possible to understand the depth of life. This is the crux of story telling. " Vikram does not believe in recognitions or awards. His stories belong to India mostly. He talks about the religious cultural stories and the folk lore or naattu pura kadhaigal. According to him both were in the extremes and in his format both are relevant for he does both.
" I do both - mythology and folk stories. In a country like India, mythology is folklore. The 'Vettalai kadhai' of Urvashi and Arjuna is really interesting - its a part of folklore and also connected with the magnum opus, Mahabharata. While in exile, Arjuna goes to meet Indra in heaven and a number of celestial nymphs are besotted. They seek his company but he had taken an oath to stay celibate at that time and therefore they were unable to enjoy his company.
The confident Urvashi follows him but is frustrated for Arjuna was clearly determined to stay celibate. She comes to the Earth, brings the Vettrilai or Vettalai along with her, throws it on Arjuna and curses him (Until then, Vettalai or the betel leaf, which happens to be an elixir was found only in heaven and it was because of this incident that it comes to Earth). Arjuna becomes Brihanalla , a transgender as a consequence of the curse.
It was in this form that Arjuna becomes a tutor for Princess Uttara ( daughter of King Virata - later wife of Abhimanyu and mother of Pariksit who succeeded Yudhishtra as the ruler of Hastinapura ) at Matsya Desa during the hiding part of the exile. Similarly a Kerala folklore talks about Bhima making Aviyal by mixing all the food. Therefore Aviyal was discovered by Bhima.
Folklore is nothing but people's narratives of happenings. ' Vyasa ' and ' Avvaiyar ' are found in abundance in our country. Lots of all this are part of the academic world , now I am trying to bring it back to the people and leave it there. I am not a historian and I am only giving a perspective. In the process I am just trying to open it up, leave it to the people to dig further. People are not having a perspective today and that's the problem.
Its the media which is giving the perspective and a bias is created mostly. ' Slow and Steady ' wins the race has become a ritualistic thing ! Morals and idealism are meant for the grown ups. A child should laugh and enjoy a story or any art form. Its bound to taste the essence later. Story telling is unique for here the audience is not in the darkness.
They know the person who is present alongside. Here the audience is part of the experience and its not simply watching and taking the memory home. I get to do facelook and not facebook while telling stories. Its an experience were you will laugh, think, smile and every member of the audience will get to see it. Its really amazing and I love it, " added Vikram in his own story telling style. He has spent time at the Sabarmati Ashram too.
Vikram likes Coimbatore. " We had a Coimbatore connect for a long time. I used to come here with my brother by the Blue Mountain train to play tennis. My brother Vinod Sridhar ( India No:1 at one time ) was a winner and star and I would lose. Knew the city well because of those visits and now story telling is bringing me to this lovely city often. Really glad to be a story teller, " stated Vikram before going into another session of storytelling. He travels all around the country and has made our mythology and folklore more interesting through his story telling.