In an era saturated with creative content, all vying for the same audience, the age-old tradition of oral narrative storytelling still survives. The reason, says, Usha Venkatraman, founder of the Mumbai Storytellers Society, is because “stories will never grow old. It is up to the storytellers to reinvent themselves to suit the times.”
Recently in Tiruchi to conduct a workshop for students and teachers at Santhanam Vidyalaya, Usha was in her element as she explained science concepts through stories to students of Classes 7 and 8, and trained educators on how to use storytelling in the classroom.
Musical start
Usha’s journey as a storyteller began in 1996, when she put her expertise as a trained Carnatic vocalist to good use by combining it with puppetry to teach children about melody and rhythm in music.
“I was able to explain concepts like shruti, laya, gamaka (vibration intrinsic to Carnatic classical music) and connect mathematics with music,” she recalls. “It became easier for kids to see that like musical notes also have ascending and descending orders (aarohanam, avarohanam) like maths and the seven ragas are like members of a family.”
With the help of puppeteers, Usha took her first show across Mumbai’s schools to much acclaim.
Soon, other projects followed, with the storyteller finding her voice in newer avenues. “I started attending workshops to learn more about this craft, and also got invited to many international storytelling events. In 2010, I was invited to Sweden to participate in the Storywood conference with the doyenne of storytelling Geeta Ramanujam (Kathalaya Academy, Bengaluru), where I narrated a tale about Deepavali in a woodland venue. With little lamps burning, I shared the story of the clever washerwoman and Goddess Lakshmi, and was amazed to see how ambience affected the audience.”
Profession first
Wanting to recreate that magic back in India, Usha realised that she had to up her game. “Until then I never knew that storytelling could be a profession, because I would never charge anybody. In fact artistes like me would be paid with tea and biscuits after the story session,” she laughs. “But the Swedish programme taught me that if I wanted my talent to be respected, I must charge for my presentation.”
Today, she conducts a wide range of storytelling programmes for a diverse group of clients both in India and abroad.
“I feel you should listen to my story and to my words as they are my strongest tools,” she says. Moral stories are not on her list of 150 tales, because she would like listeners to make their own inferences.
Adding new chapters
Being a regular participant of international storytelling events (she is the festival director of Gaatha — Mumbai International Storytelling Festival 2023), Usha says Indian artistes have to battle many stereotypes to make an impression abroad. “First, they believe that we don’t know to speak in English, and those of us who do, tend to shout out our lines. The criticism has helped me to concentrate on the quality and content of my work,” she says.
Though she has family roots in Tiruchi and Thanjavur, Usha Venkatraman was born in Guwahati and has travelled extensively throughout India. “Perhaps this has influenced my work. India has an abundance of multi-cultural stories. We need to know how to market them like the Westerners do, with labels to differentiate components,” she says.
She has ventured into contemporary Katha Kalashepam (traditional tales with anecdotes), teaming up with painters, puppeteers, poets and other artistes, to present ancient stories with a modern flair.
“I think before we restore the Earth, we need to re-story ourselves. Stories have the power to take us through difficult times,” she signs off.
