Storytelling meet up in Odisha capital to promote folklore culture

Bhubaneswar: Who isn’t fond of stories, especially folklore from different regions? With people struggling to make time for smallest of things, such stories are now mostly confined to the rural belt.

To inculcate the folklore culture among youngsters, Tripixo and Odisha Tourism are here with an evening full of travel tales, experiences and folklore by some known and unknown faces.

The event, scheduled to be held in the evening, will see Maharashtra’s Ramchandra Chavan, who recently pedaled for around 2006 km from Malvan to Konark. “Covering the distance from Malvan to Konark was a terrific experience. I chose to cycle down to Konark because Malvan is a tourist hotspot in Maharashtra and Konark in Odisha on the opposite end. This was also to promote the campaign ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’. En route, I stumbled upon some really interesting people filled with so many stories, a part of which I will share today,” he said.

Speaking about his experience, Chavan said Odisha surprised him and proved him wrong in a lot of ways. “This trip shattered my illusion of Odisha as a backward state. Odisha is beautiful and so are its people. I have learnt a lot of things here and I’m already excited about sharing it all with the young crowd,” Ramcharan added.

Odisha-based author, Surendra Nath, focusing more on the folklore cult, will speak about tales apropos Konark and the Sun Temple. “People have definitely come across stories according to which the idol inside the Sun Temple is suspended in air. I’ll discuss the extent to which such folktales are true. My next book, Karna’s Celestial Armour concludes with the second Sun Temple. I have also included tit-bits of folklore in it, which I’ll discuss this evening,” he said.

Surendra believes folklore is an important aspect of our life. “They give wings to our imagination and often, make us think,” he added.

The event organizer, Arjun, said there are stories waiting to be heard. “There are students from colleges in Bhubaneswar who’ll share stories today, too. We want the stories to reach people. In this regard, we have come up with a mobile application Tripixo. It is an audio storytelling guide of the heritage monuments,” he said.

Plans are afoot to develop such audios for all ASI monuments in Odisha, he added.