THE SOUL OF YOUR STORY













Pic.: Anima D'Cunha
I am never tired of telling our young boys and girls, even little kids, during the PD sessions, that everything they tell in the class - be it on stage or in groups – is a story. “Everything you tell here is a story… everything can be told as a great story,” I remind them, “and you are a great story-teller.” I, also, remind them, “Our life starts and ends with stories…. As little kids, we listen to stories told to us by our parents and grandparents… Then, when become parents and grandparents, we tell stories to our little-ones.”

Stories sustain life… They give meaning and hope to our existence!

Last evening, my wife and I watched the latest edition of the movie ‘The Jungle Book’. Like almost everyone around us, I, too, have watched the earlier version of ‘The Jungle Book’ many times over. I have read the book, too, several times…  And, yes, the story doesn’t cease to fascinate me…

Such a simple story… but, how timeless!

Rudyard Kipling had spent his initial six years as a child - and, later, another six and a half  years working as a young man - in India. Many of us may not know, that he had written the stories in ‘The Jungle Book’ for his little daughter, who died at the age of six! That explains why his stories have such an emotional appeal in them… why we all are able to connect to them!

A story is a story only when it is told with raw emotions… the feelings. Any piece of creativity – be it prose or poetry, be it a book, play or a movie, be it a speech, painting, song or a piece of music… yes, whatever piece of creativity be it, unless the creator pours into it his emotions, his feelings, it is devoid of its soul… It simply fails to touch us. It is dead.

The characters in The Jungle Book – Mowgli, Bagheera, Baloo, Shere Khan, Kaa, Raksha, King Louie… are all real… They speak with real emotions…

I, truly, feel, that the young boys and girls, these days, are not expressive enough as they block their emotions when they write and speak… They tell their stories without soaking them in emotions!

“God is not present in idols… Your feelings are your god,” said Chanakya, “The soul is your temple.”

GERALD D’CUNHA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or painful that
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How does it matter
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...