Tom-tomming a tale

YOUNG SPIRIT

Storytelling is purely an art and when told well, it not only bonds one to the teller but also manages to take everyone in the room on a journey into one’s imagination. As part of the Ranga Shankara children’s festival, many celebrities took part in a series of storytelling. Being part of theatre, most of them had no problems with it. But  Vasundhara Das, whose only experience on stage has been singing, says she was nervous facing the children and reciting a story to them.

Taking up one of the folktales called Drum, Vasundhara did what she knows best, she evolved it into a drum circle.

“I was very nervous. But after incorporating the drums into the story, it became far more easier,” says Vasundhara. After distributing different kinds of drums like the djembes, hand drums, doumbek, bongos, congas, frame drum, tambourine and many other drums from all over the world to completely untrained hands, she instructed the children in the audience to play the drums according to the rhythms and beats of the story.

Revolving around a boy whose dream of having a drum takes him on an unlikely path, Vasundhara grasped the attention of the children, and every time the boy met someone on the way to guide him, the children joined in and started beating a different kind of drum.

Vasundhara feels that the beating of drums act both as a stress-reliever as well as helps in breaking communication barrier, “We generally use these exercises on corporates as an exercise and this was the first time we did it for children and the response was so good,” she said. More than a corporate exercise, the session seemed more of an energy booster for all those who had assembled.

Many parents were even inspired by the entire activity and came forward and showed their appreciation and interest in joining in for many more of such activities. “The entire program was so full of energy and life. I have never seen storytelling done this way before. It has really inspired me to continue this method on my children,” said one of the parents.