A community talks about the dirt in their own lives at story slam session

A Kommune slam story session. Pics/kommuneity

Soon after Tender is the Night by F Scott Fitzgerald was published in 1934, he wrote to Ernest Hemingway seeking an honest opinion. In this historical relic of a letter, an unvarnished Hemingway writes, "Invention is the finest thing but you cannot invent anything that would not actually happen. That is what we are supposed to do when we are at our best - make it all up - but make it up so truly that later it will happen that way."

Gaurav Kapur

This quintessence lies at the crux of what Kommune does. "We are extremely particular about the stories being original and from your own life. The reason is that grand narratives, such as those in movies, are distant," says Tess Joseph, director at Kommune, speaking about the eminence of tangibility, like clasping someone's hand or a meaningful side hug. At their story slam's fourth edition, the theme is "dirt". "What does dirt mean to people? It could range from burying to digging up dirt on someone. Imagine how a word can trigger you in a million directions," Joseph tells us.

Roshan Abbas

Started by theatre person, Roshan Abbas, TV anchor Gaurav Kapur and musician Ankur Tewari in 2015, the collective is a circle of like-minded producers, artiste, and patrons, who come together hoping to veer storytelling into space they can call their own. "I went for the first session, was the second person to narrate a story on stage and then never left. Roshan, Ankur and Gaurav were looking at a space where you could truly be your art," she recalls.

Tess Joseph

"You can expect amazing stories, great people and to leave feeling connected, in an almost fairytale kind of way. And because it's open to all, mostly, we have no idea what we're going to get, yet every time we find gold. There's going to be laughter and warmth and even tears. The most endearing part is, it's a community of complete strangers, eagerly cheering for someone when they falter. To see that is really beautiful because of all things, a tiny, informal get-together restores your faith in humanity," she says.

Ankur Tiwari

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