Sowmya Srinivasan - Story Teller

The latest issue of Mangayar Malar, a leading Tamil monthly for women  has carried an article on my daughter Sowmya, tracing her journey as a professional story teller. Since many of our friends can`t read Tamil ( that includes my own children & grand children), I have attempted a translation in English to give you the essence of the  story  by G.Meenakshi,  the editor of Mangayar Malar. This is my first attempt at translation from Tamil to English- opening up an opportunity for me try another genre of writing which is growing popular in recent years. Read on and give me your feedback.

                         

Sowmya Srinivasan ,is  a storyteller at Soul Space Story tell and chief storyteller at Muktha Foundation in Bangalore. She  is also one of the founding members of the Bangalore Story Telling society who has been planting good thoughts in the minds of the children through her stories.  

It is surprising that the stories that she narrates for  children are equally appreciated by adults who are in the audience. Sowmya has the natural ability to captivate  her audiences with her facial expressions and  a lovely voice with necessary fluctuations. Using toys, face masks, and other props made of cloth she acts out the stories  accompanied by appropriate music effects so well  that Children love her performances.

 Born and brought up in Chennai,  Sowmya, after graduating in Zoology from S I E T college, did a Diploma course in Special Education from Vidya Sagar, a school for the Differently Abled children. She has also got a M A  and M.Phil degrees  in Psychology from Annamalai University. After completing the course in Vidya Sagar she worked there for two years.  Sowmya got her first experience of storytelling at Vidya sagar, which had a period devoted to `Story telling` for the children.

 “It is not easy to tell stories to Special Children” says Sowmya. “ I had to tell the stories in such a way that  I had to give them the feeling that they are literally watching the scenes being described. It had to be told in a simple language.The story telling experience at Vidya Sagar was to help me later when I became active as a story teller.

 “After my marriage in 1998 I went to Bangalore where my husband was working. I worked in a special school as a teacher for a short while. After parenting two kids, I decided  to take a break. In  2008 when I heard about Kathalaya which was providing training in storytelling, I promptly enrolled myself as a student. After finishing the course I approached a few Play Schools looking for opportunities to tell stories to children. A few schools obliged as I was charging only a nominal fee.”

 “While telling stories I sing and use mimicry. I also use props of birds, animals made as toys or masks. Story telling becomes more interesting when you use crafts and other supporting techniques. Children listen to such stories with rapt attention  and easily absorb the message being conveyed.

“Since my husband worked in the Indian Airforce with frequent transfers, I have lived in Chennai, Jorhat in Assam  and Kanpur. An assignment to  train teachers in storytelling  in Kanpur  helped me hone my skills in storytelling.

How did you get interested in storytelling?

.”In my student days I had  learnt both Carnatic music and Bharat Natyam. Besides I was also a book worm. I used to read a lot of books. I remember in my younger days, I used to perform mono acting shows to entertain relatives at family functions. This helped in my evolution as a professional story teller. I started hunting for interesting books to learn about more stories from different genres and from different countries. Besides I am also good at creating my own stories.

“How to control anger? How to be honest? Why share food with others? Benefits of doing regular exercises, respecting elders and many other good practices that children should follow are conveyed through  my stories. I feel  I have been able to reach such messages effectively to children through  my technique of story telling.

Sowmya adds, “ It is important to know the ages of the targeted children and  tell stories to suit the audience. This  helps in creating the right impact on them”  Sowmya also attempts to provide answers to mental health  problems faced by children through her stories. Besides Folk Tales and  ones based on Mythology, she  tries to create awareness among  children about the importance of  good habits and other socially relevant issues of today. Children listen to such stories with total involvement.

What techniques do you use to tell stories to adults

Children usually  do not  forget the characters in the stories while they might forget the full stories. Where as for adults the story is more  important than the characters. It is important to tell the stories from different angles  to ensure that message reaches the adult audience  effectively.

“I also partner with two or three other story tellers to tell stories to adults. Dividing the narration among other story tellers depending on the story line is a technique we often  use in telling stories. Also having inter active and Q & A sessions with audience while  making them join in singing sessions, helps in active participation of the audience in the process and drives home the intended messages with greater force”

`We story tellers help adults by providing  soothing balms to get over their disturbed minds. Very often we share Personal Stories. Such  stories help adults to overcome the guilt feelings they might be harbouring because of mistakes they have made in life, knowingly or unknowingly. Telling stories creatively keeping in mind the characteristics of the targeted audience definitely helps bring about a change in them` says Sowmya, who has helped transform the lives of many adults through her story telling sessions.

A few years ago Sowmya had an opportunity to tell stories in Tamil  to children of Kodaganallur village in Tirunelveli.  When she visited the village a year later she was pleasantly surprised to find  one of the children come running to her and repeating her story verbatim. Sowmya was delighted that her story had made such an impact on the child that it remembered every line of the story.

“I consider this the biggest reward for my efforts as a story teller. I  am also happy to know that many children had learnt the art of creating their own stories after listening to me.”

Sowmya has been a full time professional story teller since from 2010. Apart from schools and public engagements, she   has been telling stories to adults and staff in corporates. Her stories also have been a part of  summer camps held by schools for their students.

   “To help reduce the work related stress among their staff, Corporates seek the help of story tellers like me. Corporates have found that not only our stories reduce the stress on the staff but also improve their  productivity. It also helps reduce the tension between the staff and management motivating the staff to work with total dedication to their job”

Sowmya has a message for parents. “ Parents must find time to tell stories to their children and also encourage them  to tell stories that they have read in books. They must also listen patiently to such stories narrated by children. Children  must be persuaded to share their experiences in the form of stories. If possible, provide opportunities for children to tell stories  at family functions. It is not necessary that only books can provide you good stories. We can create stories from the pictures that we see, songs we listen to and  from our own varied experiences. Children must be constantly encouraged to tell or write  their own stories”

Parents will do well to pay heed to this important advice from Sowmya.

’  

Every Thing Happens for the Good

 My colleague B in Clarion was a handsome Sardar, impeccably attired, who brooked no nonsense from

anybody. While I was known as ‘Crisis Rajan’, he was nick named ‘Urgent Singh’, since every job from his clients was urgent. An incident involving both of us  almost cost me my life but helped me learn a valuable lesson(!) in life from B.

After a couple of months in Clarion he quit to join MCM, the hottest new agency Bombay those days.,. As part of his salary package, B had got an advance from the company  to buy a second hand car. He promptly bought one without knowing how to drive. He rode a two wheeler those days.

 Within a week of his leaving Clarion, I got a call from B one evening, “Hey Rajan! Good news, I have bought a car and got possession of the same this afternoon. And you are going to drive that car back to

my home at Khar”. I was rattled. I had gone to a driving school to get my driving license but I  had no practice. Besides I had never driven a car in the night. My loud protests were dismissed and he landed at Clarion promptly at 6.00 pm requesting me to take to the wheel.

 “It is my car, I know I am taking a risk. So what is your problem?” I did not have the courage to tell him that he was risking both our lives! Anyway, I drove the car very slowly and reached his residence at Khar after 2½ hours — a distance a good driver could cover in one hour in normal traffic those days. I was relieved when I delivered B safely at his house, after a torturous journey. I thought the episode was behind me. It was not to be!

 Next morning, a Saturday, it was pouring cats and dogs. Around 9 am, I heard a knock on my door. I was shocked to find B standing with a sheepish grin.

“Rajan, you are going to teach me driving yaar!”

I screamed, “Are you mad? In this rain you want me to teach? I could do with some practice myself!” When I asked him “Where’s the car?” he said with a mischievous smile, “In front of your house. Simple

yaar! I know how to change gears because of my experience in riding the two-wheeler. So I managed to drive the car up to your house!”

He literally dragged me out, once again admonishing me for my lack of courage, so typical of a ‘Saala Madrasi’. With great reluctance, I decided to take the car in the pouring rain to Carter Road in Bandra, a road running parallel to the sea front with parapet walls. The road was fairly empty and when we reached one end of the road, B took the wheel and I began explaining to him the gear system and how to coordinate between the clutch and the accelerator. After the initial briefing, B started the car.

I kept giving him instructions, “Now change to second gear, now third and now fourth”. The car picked up speed and suddenly, in the pouring rain, it started skidding. As a novice myself, instead of asking him to slow down by changing gears, I shouted for him to apply the brakes, which he promptly did. The car took several spins and stopped after hitting the parapet wall. Due to the impact, my head hit the wind shield and I passed out! When I came back to senses,  I was staring  at the face of B. I found my head throbbing with pain with a bleeding gash on my forehead.

 When he told me, “Rajan, everything happens for the good, yaar”. I was livid! Here I was with a bleeding injury (while nothing had happened to the Sardar, thanks to his  pagdi (turban)  and he was telling me that something good had happened!

 He explained, “Imagine, if this accident had happened on Link Road, we could have knocked off a few other cars & people and we  would be in serious trouble.`

What logic! Though I was very upset, B taught me an important lesson in life. Don’t get bogged down by mishaps! Always look at the positive side  of every experience and you will find life interesting!

He was kind enough to put me in a taxi and send me home. B never again bothered me with crazy requests!

Excerpted from my autobiography titled `Courage My Companion`

Crisis Rajan!

 They were mad days in Clarion, Bombay, where I was working as an Account Executive. I used to work till late in the nights. Very often sleeping in the office and going home early in the morning to have a shower and change and come back to the office!  In the absence of a telephone at home or even in the whole building, there was no way I could inform my parents  that I would be late or that I would not come home for the night. I must have given my parents hell those days!

One day my mother lost her cool and screamed, “What kind of a job  is this? There are no fixed  timings and no time or the family! Your father never behaved like this in his whole life”.

Unfortunately, she did not realise that my father was not my role model in terms of my career! I wanted to succeed in a big way in the advertising world and I was willing to make any sacrifice to achieve my goal.

This period also coincided with my alienating my school/college friends. Every time any of them called me for a get together, my standard answer would be, “I am in the middle of a big crisis ,yaar. Sorry but I can’t make it.” Provoked by this my friend Ranga nicknamed me ’Crisis Varada’ (School and college friends used to call me Varadarajan or Varada for short). The reputation continued in the office circles when I started handling all troublesome clients. The management would not think twice before handing over a client to me to sort out a crisis created by the action or in-action of another executive on the account. I became ’Crisis Rajan`. I enjoyed facing problems and solving them. In fact, all these years my prayer to God has been  “God! Give me lots of problems and give me the courage to face them. Make my life interesting”. Even today, I am at my best in any crisis situation.

I continue to enjoy challenges which I try to face with courage as my companion.  But my prayer to god has undergone a change since my retirement from active professional life.. As I am on the last lap of my life journey I pray : `God,  don`t  make me a burden on my children but whenever you decide that my time is up, please take me with my shoes on.`

For the Gums and the Bums

Working on Geoffrey Manners account with Subroto Sengupta ( branch manager) and Arshad Farouqee ( group manager) as bosses was both interesting and rewarding. Geoffrey Manners was also the account where I honed my skills in making presentations. With three products and good budgets, we were busy throughout the year making presentations for some brand or the other.

The annual strategy presentation was always great fun. It always started with long briefings where the client would review the performance of the brands and give us clear directions on what they expected from us. I remember one meeting where the client was briefing us on Forhans Toothpaste. Forhans, which was the No. 2 toothpaste brand next to Colgate Dental Cream in those days, used to run a testimonial campaign. The company received unsolicited testimonials from thousands of satisfied customers from across the country. Every year, three letters would be selected and extracts with the name and addresses of the senders were featured in the ads. That particular year there was a letter from an engine driver, which I quote from memory:

“Dear Sir,

I am an engine driver and a regular user of Forhans Toothpaste. I drive on the Bombay-Calcutta sector. About three months ago, the driver who was to relieve me fell ill and I was asked to do extended duty for 24 hours. Sir, I am also a patient of piles. Because of the tension, I had a severe attack of the problem but unfortunately I had forgotten to carry the piles ointment which I usually do. In desperation, I applied Forhans toothpaste, hoping that it would help me. Lo and Behold! I was relieved from my pain within 10 minutes. Sir, I am sharing this experience to tell you that Forhans is not only a good toothpaste but is also good for providing relief from piles!”  

Osborne D’Souza (Ossie), the Copy Chief, who was sitting in the meeting responded thus: “Brilliant! Currently the pack carries the slogan ‘Forhans for the Gums’. Henceforth we can say, ‘Forhans for the Gums and the Bums ”. Everybody laughed. Hafeez Noorani, the Marketing Manager  explained that the driver was relieved of his pain  because one of the ingredient was an astringent which is good for sore or inflamed gums. And sore bums!

The Forhans account also got me my first modelling chance. TRIO films were shooting a series of films for Forhans, featuring models writing letters to Geoffrey Manners. On one such occasion, a male model did not turn up. The Director, Ghanekar, decided that I fitted the role and captured me on camera writing a letter. Later, after I shifted to Chennai, I modelled for a couple of ad films for JS films, a joint venture between Jayendra, who produced the famous `I love you Rasna` campaign` and the veteran Cinematographer P.C.Sriram. At the end of shooting one day, P.C.Sriram commended me for being a `one take artist`. It was a film for Shriram Chit Funds in which I  had a double role- I appeared both as father and grand father. The company used to telecast, several spots of the film every day in Sun TV during the Tamil New Year and Navarathri seasons when they opened New Chits for the public to subscribe. During those days people used  to recognize me whenever I went for shopping or attended any public events. I was quite thrilled to  feel like a mini celebrity those days… memorable days!