Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann Ki Baat address said the recent troubles had brought families close.
“Where there is a soul, there is a story” Mr. Modi said, stressing the lost art of storytelling needs to be brought to the fore.
“During my travels, I used to meet with kids. I used to ask them for stories, they would say that they would tell jokes instead. That used to astound me, we have a settled tradition of storytelling and Katha in our society,” he said. “Nowadays science fiction is also popular.”
He mentioned Amar Vyas who has started a gaatha website. “Vaishali Vyavahare Deshpande in Marathi, Vidya Raghavan of Chennai, Kathalaya and the Indian Storytelling Network are popularising storytelling and forming networks of storytellers,” he said.
Aparna Atreya, Aparna Jaishankar, Shailaja Sampath and Sowmya Srinivasan join from Bengaluru Storytelling Society and narrate a story on Krishna Deva Raya and Tenali Rama. Ms. Athreya thanked the PM for highlighting the importance of storytelling.
Speaking on the importance of stories to impart good values and sanskar to the children, Mr. Modi requested all storytellers to document and disseminate stories from our freedom movement and our travails under colonialism, to mark 75 years of independence.
Seydu Dembele of Mali in West Africa joined the call, recalled attending the Kumbh Mela in the past and expressed desire to visit again. Every afternoon, Mr. Dembele hosts a radio broadcast called Indian Frequency on Bollywood songs. He is known as “Mali’s Indian Babu”.
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