Weave a tapestry of tales

A seven-day long storytelling festival at CSMVS promises to fuel your child’s wild imagination

There's something compelling about “Once Upon A Times”. They cast a spell and hook your mind into the build of an account you haven’t even heard. How they end has little to do with how they begin — these little elves, Stories! As the author of His Dark Materials series, Philip Pullman, said, “After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” This need resonated well with the Children’s Museum at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS); they are presenting seven days of virtual storytelling for kids, titled Journey Through Time. This event is a mixed bag under the umbrella of tales. The offering, packed with fun, fancy and folly, will sensitise young minds to sharing a platform with one and all. “We have roped in interpreters this time so that deaf children can join in,” says Meagan Vaz, education associate at the museum. She goes on to explain the context to the title: “The pandemic has made us aware of our realisations of time. Thus, we wanted the event name to capture the essence of our past, present and what could possibly happen in the future.” Vaz, the festival curator, says it re-emerges after a year-long hiatus, and will also include book readings, puppetry, workshops and activities.

Sheila Wee

The programme will be a meeting point for professional narrators from all over - Hungary, Singapore, Japan, Northern Ireland and Russia, among others. Closer home, author-columnist Vaishali Shroff shares her take on channeling inclusivity, “It’s also about children who can hear getting an idea of equal treatment.” Shroff will be narrating parts from her book, The Adventures of Padma and a Blue Dinosaur. Her book fits into the theme as it describes stories of protagonists who time-travel to 65,000 millions years ago and give a picture of how dinosaurs walked on the Indian Subcontinent. It’s a treat for all those who love the interlacing of fiction and non-fiction.

Vaishali Shroff and Shreedevi Sunil

Shreedevi Sunil, a Mumbai-based puppeteer and founder of Talking Turtles Storytellers thinks it is the sensory experience of a performance that attracts kids to a story. Words, sounds and expressions mould a visual language that mesmerises and draws one in. Her act is an interesting one; it narrates a few stories from The Jataka Tales and Panchatantra series. Although a thousand years old, these stories are relevant to our times. They are a testament of all things that have travelled through time and will continue to do the same, helping us learn and unlearn.  

On December 13 to December 19 
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