When the world is moving towards digital live events, a storyteller focuses on the art of listening through audio folk tales for kids
Pimenta in a storytelling session at BDL museum before the lockdown
When COVID-19 hit the country, storyteller Sherline Pimenta knew she wouldn't be able to conduct live sessions for a while. Known for her animated style and interaction with children through objects and hand gestures, Pimenta's strengths could no longer be used in the same way. Also, the Internet was flooded with performers providing visual content. Not too comfortable with the medium despite being a designer, she began exploring the best fit for herself in the virtual world.
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"I realised people are slowly losing the art of listening, and becoming impatient. With so many virtual aids available to them at all times, they just want to get to the end of the story," says the Kalina resident adding that the amount of screen time children have was also a matter of concern. "So, I decided to use YouTube, where you can find a story you are looking for easily and an audio format. The objective was to make people jog their imagination with every story and learn how to listen again," she says.
Pimenta uses folk tales from different regions in the country in short audio tales and stays clear of copyrighted content. It was a month ago that she first started posting these stories. "I began with the Monkey's Fist, from a Marathi folk tale, which both children and senior citizens enjoyed," she says.
Some of these stories are also part of the Utsar Festival 2020 by Jaya He Museum, CSIA, and use a single static image as a means of storytelling. These illustrations are made carefully, taking into account elements of the story and may also have a hidden element that is representative of the region and culture it comes from. "This becomes a fun exercise for children without them having to stare at moving virtual images," she says.
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