Story Telling

"म्हातारी म्हणाली, "चल रे भोपळ्या टुणूक टुणूक"", "उस बरगद के पेड़ के नीचे दादाजी बैठा करते थे", "The wolf said, "I will huff and I will puff" Do these lines sound familiar? Can you imagine your childhood without these stories? 

The child is not sleepy. At late night, he/she wants to continue jumping around and continue making noise. Grandma or any adult takes the charge. For the promise of a bed time story, the kid gets ready to put on pajamas and at least sit in the bed. Then the adult starts slowly with the story. The whole mood changes, the magic happens. The bouncy kid suddenly becomes attentive and in few minutes surrenders to the sleep and travels to the dream land. 

On the rainy day, kids are not able to have an outdoor recess. The whole class is bored, noisy and in terrible shape. Teachers picks up a book. Tells the students to sit on the rug. Slowly starts reading the first page of the story. The magic happens. The whole class is quiet. Students are attentive and completely ready to learn. 

There is a power shut down.  Weather is cold. There is no electricity to read, watch T.V. or to cook. There is a camp fire. People gather around it. Spooky stories are shared. The magic happens. Normal looking, boring night turns into a thriller experience. Boredom has no space. 

The seats are taken. Commercials are over. The theater becomes dark. The story starts unfolding. The magic happens. For those few hours we are part of that movie. We feel what characters feel. We laugh, cry and think with them. 

The stories carry that magical power. In India there is a tale called "Panchatantra". It was a story told by a teacher to make the royal kids ready for life. The royal kids apparently were mentally challenged. The king was worried about them. He did not know the way to teach them. The teacher taught them with the help of story telling. The stories are well known as Panchatantra. It is believed that the stories have many different life lessons. 

In speech and language therapy also, social stories are proved to be an effective tool to work with children with autism spectrum disorder. The social skills which are otherwise might be very difficult for kids to understand, come easily with the help of social stories. 

Morals or no morals, life lessons or no lessons, the story telling sure has a great power to grab the listener's attention without any difficulty. A good story doesn't have to have a life lesson or even a great end. It sure has  a power to attract the listener's attention. 

It is well known that if the attention is present, the learning becomes easy. The results of Panchatantra and social stories can be easily explained by this one fact. During bed time or classroom time, overflowing impulses, hyperactive brain waves, find a resting place in a story. The mind becomes calm. The attention is at a right place and you are ready to grasp new things coming your way. 

Non-fiction and reality definitely are the facts but we also need great story tellers for the happy and calm world. 

The good story slowly comes in your sight. It starts unfolding. It takes over you with its small small details. It keeps unfolding. it increases your curiosity. You forget about the world around you. Daily hassles do not matter. It leaves you relaxed. At times entertained. It helps you re-wire and ready to face the reality again!  

I have so many reasons to feel grateful for all the folk tales that made my childhood colorful. Next time you hear, read or watch a great story, do not forget to thank the story teller! After all they are the ones filling colors in the story of our lives.