Stories that made one think

An hour-long story-telling session, held at Atta Galatta in Koramangala recently, had an enthusiastic group of adults trooping in. Narrating stories of love and hope, Ameen Haque, the founder of ‘The Storywallahs’, ensured that the listeners were left asking for more. From the effect of ego in a relationship to the strength and tragic nature of love, the stories covered a wide spectrum. 

The storyteller, who narrated ‘Tiger’s Whiskers’ and ‘Roof of Leaves’ among others, said, “I narrated the stories that appealed to me. It’s the first time that I was addressing a group of adults. As performers, we are always under pressure to ensure that the audience has fun and a good laugh. But I was here with a different mission. I wanted to tell stories that made them think.” He added, “Love is so complex and has many facets. Each of the stories I narrated depicted a different aspect.” Ameen, who also engaged the audience with Kabhi Socha Na Tha, a story which was in the form of a poem, said, “The challenge in this style is that you need to remember each line of the poem. If you miss a single one, the meaning won’t be conveyed. But I was elated with the response from the audience which was so encouraging.” The story-telling session was followed by a reading from the book, ‘Mindblogs 1.0’, a compilation of blog posts. Zahid H Javali, Nirmala Govindarajan and Christina Daniels read their work out from the book.

“We will be releasing a sequel to this book and that’s the reason we read from it now even though it released in 2010. We have pioneered a new art form and are targetting people in the age group of 20 to 40,” said Zahid. He added, “The stories are those that everyone can relate to. All of them are based on real-life situations. We are so glad to see that there are many who have taken to writing in the hope that their work will be published.” Pointing out that there is a social message in each of the stories, Nirmala said, “We are hoping that the readers and audience see beyond the story.” 

Lalitha Lakshmi, the founder of Atta Galatta, said, “Every time we hold these events, we look for something new. We try to put together events which will give the visitors a wide exposure. We hope to conduct the story-telling session with adults once again.”