To Rushdie's question -"Who am I?"
His own answer was : "I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have been seen done, of everything done-to-me."
My answer would be a little distortion of his - I am the sum total of everything I have read, every story I have heard and of everything done-to-me and by me in the duration of my own tale.
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| In the world of stories we meet our wildest fantasies and also confront our darkest fears. |
The power to associate with someone other than us, their circumstances and situations, their tragedies and triumphs is uniquely human. To plunge into their story, heart and soul, and let it affect you is what connects us as a people. A people with a shared heritage and a future that ties us together. For it isn't just compassion that helps us identify with characters real or fictional (although it is a major component). Even animals and birds are compassionate beings and they may have the ability to identify with one of their own when they see it ( some with higher intellect, I hear can even dream about their mates) , but the ability to observe, form, narrate and appreciate the tales we weave out of experiences like these is specially gifted to us. Or maybe it's a gift the human race presented itself with and thus while beasts perish and flowers wither, if not us, our stories live on.
We began by conveying tales verbally. A fascinating idea with strong effects but the method had its flaws. People die but pass on the stories they have heard from the older generation, adding their own adventures to the mix. But at other times, entire civilisations die and with it ends all the tales and fables that they may have concocted during their reign. Word of mouth is effective but not efficient and that's how we moved to documenting our beloved stories, to hold onto our imagination more vigorously.
It is amazing to see how tales are distorted and re-fashioned as they move forward in spacetime.The renditions can give us a worthy peek into our collective conscience.And that's exactly why we need tales to be written down, so we may digress anytime we want but preserve the spirit of it for who says there can't be more than one version of a story.
Tales are able to blur the line between fantasy and reality in a way that adds to their enigma.The concept of truth is rendered false in a world like this, for your truth isn't mine and mine isn't yours and we can't even complain because in this world, truth is anything but objective.
But the true beauty of stories lies in the fact that it changes shape with every telling, and its effect grows stronger too with repetition.
An age back, when televisions were not a thing and books, although abundant weren't well understood by all( Plus we have to remember that reading is a noble, yet time consuming pursuit.), plays and enactments of fine literary work enchanted audience. Music was skillfully integrated in the art of storytelling and the written word was magnified, the imagination of readers glorified and the writer's metaphors simplified; all a hundred fold. The well chosen cast, the set and the costumes all breathed life in what most would see as a lifeless manuscript. In my opinion, however, reading is the best manifestation of our stories for it lets us opens our minds and lets our imagination run and soar. And back in the time when we couldn't possibly store a stage play, we could always hold on to the dear book.
Technology came and revolutionised the way we hear, watch and appreciate stories just like it revolutionised every other activity. Now we went to the cinema, watched television and browsed videos and episodes on the internet.
No matter the medium, the simple act of storytelling and reading, listening and watching has essentially remained the same.
Nothing can enchant us quite in the manner that stories do.
Many religious texts are assisted by stories to bring to life the philosophy and the way of life they endorse. For stories are easily remembered and understood. Instead of drilling down a code of conduct into the minds of believers, the trick lies in showing them how good conduct is rewarded and bad leads to trouble, with a help of a well crafted story.
A nice little anecdote will charm any listener and a speech that begins or ends with a great story to take away would prove to be pretty effective, anyday.
Stories are our best bet when we are looking to connect to people, emotionally.
The best way to teach a child a lesson in compassion is to read him a story.
We indulge in them for leisure and entertainment, we dwell on them to satiate our quest for knowledge and our lust for travel, we hang on to them for emotional support, we narrate them to send out a message or profess the principles we stand by, we tell them to free our souls and teach lessons, we read them to soothe ourselves, we remember them when we are tormented by our demons.
They are the most beautiful gifts of our imagination and coherence.
For don't we all aspire to be the lead in our own story, we aspire in someway to profess our chronicles to the realms beyond our own reach.
Despite stories being the necklace threaded on the string of culture and tradition, more often than not they manage to transcend these very differences and that's what again makes us, uniquely human.
We began by conveying tales verbally. A fascinating idea with strong effects but the method had its flaws. People die but pass on the stories they have heard from the older generation, adding their own adventures to the mix. But at other times, entire civilisations die and with it ends all the tales and fables that they may have concocted during their reign. Word of mouth is effective but not efficient and that's how we moved to documenting our beloved stories, to hold onto our imagination more vigorously.
It is amazing to see how tales are distorted and re-fashioned as they move forward in spacetime.The renditions can give us a worthy peek into our collective conscience.And that's exactly why we need tales to be written down, so we may digress anytime we want but preserve the spirit of it for who says there can't be more than one version of a story.
Tales are able to blur the line between fantasy and reality in a way that adds to their enigma.The concept of truth is rendered false in a world like this, for your truth isn't mine and mine isn't yours and we can't even complain because in this world, truth is anything but objective.
But the true beauty of stories lies in the fact that it changes shape with every telling, and its effect grows stronger too with repetition.
An age back, when televisions were not a thing and books, although abundant weren't well understood by all( Plus we have to remember that reading is a noble, yet time consuming pursuit.), plays and enactments of fine literary work enchanted audience. Music was skillfully integrated in the art of storytelling and the written word was magnified, the imagination of readers glorified and the writer's metaphors simplified; all a hundred fold. The well chosen cast, the set and the costumes all breathed life in what most would see as a lifeless manuscript. In my opinion, however, reading is the best manifestation of our stories for it lets us opens our minds and lets our imagination run and soar. And back in the time when we couldn't possibly store a stage play, we could always hold on to the dear book.
Technology came and revolutionised the way we hear, watch and appreciate stories just like it revolutionised every other activity. Now we went to the cinema, watched television and browsed videos and episodes on the internet.
No matter the medium, the simple act of storytelling and reading, listening and watching has essentially remained the same.
Nothing can enchant us quite in the manner that stories do.
Many religious texts are assisted by stories to bring to life the philosophy and the way of life they endorse. For stories are easily remembered and understood. Instead of drilling down a code of conduct into the minds of believers, the trick lies in showing them how good conduct is rewarded and bad leads to trouble, with a help of a well crafted story.
A nice little anecdote will charm any listener and a speech that begins or ends with a great story to take away would prove to be pretty effective, anyday.
Stories are our best bet when we are looking to connect to people, emotionally.
The best way to teach a child a lesson in compassion is to read him a story.
We indulge in them for leisure and entertainment, we dwell on them to satiate our quest for knowledge and our lust for travel, we hang on to them for emotional support, we narrate them to send out a message or profess the principles we stand by, we tell them to free our souls and teach lessons, we read them to soothe ourselves, we remember them when we are tormented by our demons.
They are the most beautiful gifts of our imagination and coherence.
For don't we all aspire to be the lead in our own story, we aspire in someway to profess our chronicles to the realms beyond our own reach.
Despite stories being the necklace threaded on the string of culture and tradition, more often than not they manage to transcend these very differences and that's what again makes us, uniquely human.
