Warrier's Collage 19062020 : Story Telling
Warrier's Collage 19062020 : Story telling
Prayer
Watch "Shantakaram Bhujagshayanam with Lyrics By Anuradha Paudwal I SHRINATH SAMRANANJALIKA"
Good Morning
Today we are finding out how stories are told. We all listen to, read and tell different stories, stories of different denominations.
Link to Vir Sanghvi's article on Social Media (E. below) may be repeat for some of you. I found it interesting.
Now, please read Smt Vathsala Jayaraman's insightful 'story' about Krishna (F below).
There's an school of thought which considers "Mahabharatham" as what "happens" in individual human mind. Developing that thought, each character and every episode can be seen as symbolic representation of our thoughts, speech and actions. The concept of "Krishna" is the all-powerful decision-making intellect responsible for whatever one thinks, says or does.
The fateful life and "death" of Krishna can be interpreted as the balancing of "punya" (noble deeds, satkarma) and "papa" (sins, evil deeds) which happens every moment ("yuge yuge" in Sanskrit also means "every moment" where moment is a unit of time much shorter than second) and signalling the need for maintaining the balance sheet positive at any given time.
M G Warrier
A. Story telling
2) One who mastered the art of story telling
Watch "Swami Chinmayananda, Master Storyteller | #ChinmayaMission"
Swamy Chinmayananda mastered the art of story telling at a very young age and the skill grew with his age. He enjoyed telling stories to children of all ages as much as he enjoyed giving discourses on Bhagavad-Gita. Just watch his body language in this video!
B. Journalism and story telling
Journalists as Storytellers - Nieman Reports
This article was not written in the Indian context. But I liked the presentation.
C. Great story
Watch "What Makes a Great Story?"
D. Who are all telling stories?
Storytellers to enliven Kottayam village visits
If you thought stories are confined to what we can pick up from book shelves, read this report.
E. It's a FORWARD
Social media is killing democracy - analysis
In the name of Social Media, individuals and groups are spreading venomous thoughts. In majority of cases, even when some "brand name" appears in a corner of the screen, the identity of the person making statements, source or dates of happening of events discussed remain untraceable. Even very decent people share spurious gossips and if one gets back and check the source or point out inconsistencies, the innocent response is : "It was a FORWARD"
F. Vyasa as a Story Teller
Smt Vathsala Jayaraman, Ex-RBI, our group's Star Story Teller briefly recounts the constraints of Master Story Tellers through the example of Vyasa writing Mahabharatham:
Last day of Lord Krishna
Mahabharat is a most complex and complicated Epic story ever written but it leaves one so confused as to what Dharma is, which is so different for Different class of people and also how with his dual personality as Human and as Divine, Krishna is worshipped as a Poornaavathar!!!
Krishna always felt that that Karmawields the major influence on life, whether it is his own son , auntKunthi, Kamsa, Bhishma, Drona , Karna or Abhimanyu.
Even Gandhiji had no influence on his own children.
There are certain comments that Samba, son of Krishna, had taken after krishnain playing tricks.Not only Samba's instance, Krishna is blamed for many of his follies , lies and unjustifiable acts,It is not unusual for Epic hero to win through cunning. In fact, most of theGreek Epics are like that. But in those epics, it is just taken as a normal thingand the hero gets on without any remorse.But in Indian Epics all such acts of human or divine characters are placed under the lens of Dharma.Vyasa, the author of Mahabharat was well aware that Krishna was Lord Himself and had he desired, he could have depicted the cleanest andthe most perfect picture of Krishna without giving any room for anyone to pass evil comments on Krishna.But he never tried to do that.In the last phase of the battle, Vyasa heaps lot of accuses on Krishna throughthe mouth of Duryothana even as he was dying. He directs the most scornful remarks of lies, cheating and holds him responsible for the death of many kshatriyas through unfair tricks.In fact many authors and commentators criticise Krishna as preaching the highest morality and indulging in the lowest tricks.Krishna seems to feel that sometimes untruth is better than truth if victory is the ultimate goal.We have to accept the extra ordinary nature of the Epic and appreciate the clever handling of the same by Vyasa.The Epic manages tobalance the worldly and the divine identities of Krishna. It neither glosses over his contradictions, nor tries to idealize him.His flaws are there for all to see.Gandhari curses Krishna to die like a common beast in the wilderness for having caused the death of all her sons and relatives. We see Krishna gladly accepting the curse anddying with an arrow of a hunter. He does not have a noble death. Flowers do not fall from the sky as they did during Karna's death.It is the meanest death in the Epic history. Perhaps this is the Epic's way of conveying disapproval to Krishna's strategies.Mahabharatha is a mirror reflecting human nature at its best and worst and depicts Dharma along with its complexities and ever-changing definitions.Vathsala Jayaraman
F. Response to Warrier's Collage 18062020 :
(When you listen one story with interest, other two come to your mind : Warrier)
Appreciation from V Babusenan
"Viktor Frankl's story of the woman who determined to commit suicide brought to my mind two stories.
One is a Sherlock Holmes story. The owner of a circus company used to be very cruel with his wife especially when he was drunk. A young member of the circus troupe took pity on the poor woman. Pity transformed to love. With the support of the woman he hatched a plan to put an end to her suffering.This was the plan:Each night the husband and wife would feed the circus lion. The woman would open the cage and he would feed the lion. On one night the young man would strike the man from behind on the head with an axe fitted with a lion's paw made of steel when she would open the door of the cage. The idea was to make the thing appear that the man was killed by the lion.The idea misfired. When she opened the cage the lion smelt blood and pounced upon her and horribly mauled her face. The lover fled in panic. The matter was treated as a tragic accident. The woman didn't betray the lover who abandoned her. She shifted to a lodging house in a London suburb with her face heavily veiled. When she learned that the man died in an accident,she wanted to tell her tragic story to some sympathetic listener and then to end her life . As the listener she chose the famous Sherlock Holmes who agreed and visited her lodge. With rapt attention he listened and while leaving told her: "Your life is not your own.Keep your hands off it." A few days later,Holmes received a bottle of prussic acid along with a short note: "I send you my temptation. I will follow your advice.'
The name of the story is: The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger.
The other story is about the great Abraham Lincoln. He signed the Emancipation Proclamation abolishing slavery on 1st January 1863. The night before, Lincoln sent for his old village friend who was an out and out rustic with no education . After attending to all his needs and ,as suggested by the President, he was brought to one of the famous rooms in the White House. Lincoln received him with all affection and, after preliminary enquiries, he started telling about the savage practice of slavery and the consequences, good and bad, of its abolition. His friend didn't understand a word of it. He was simply looking at his great friend with admiring eyes and when the latter finished he said: "Abe,whatever you do will be always correct." Lincoln arranged to send him back to the village and signed the Proclamation without further hesitation. This anecdote in Lincoln's life I happened to read long ago in Dale Carnegie's book: Little Known Facts about Well Known People.
Sympathetic listening is a wonderful thing.
Regards."
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