Pens, Potraits and Penchant (Noughts & crosses Pt2)
This is the second piece of a series I’m calling ‘Noughts and Crosses’ which is the result of collaborating with incredibly talented friends :)
I've known Anjana since we were five years old. Fifteen years later, despite everything else I think we're still those giggling birthday-party-hopping girls running into each other at Landmark. If you like the content on this blog (or even if you don't :P) check out her art page on Instagram @anjanabalyan !
P.s. The links we've shared in the last section are in Tamil, Hindi and English so that a wider audience can enjoy them :)
If you think about it, everything around us is a narrative. However, the moment we attach the ‘story’ tag to it, we cease to care about discerning fact from fiction. Think of it in the Napoleon context - the tale of a little man defeating large empires fits in with the David vs Goliath narrative and as a species that loves to support the underdog, we have no reservations about accepting this version of events.
Napoleon was in reality, as tall as the average male in the
late 18th and early 19th centuries. He is believed to have been 5’2”. However,
the French inch back then was 2.7 cm, vis a vis the Imperial inch at 2.54 cm.
Upon conversion, this would mean that he was a little over 5’5”, which does not
seem all that short now, does it?
British cartoonist James Gillray holds the dubious distinction of popularising this myth by incorporating it into his wildly influential illustrations so much so that it continues to be part of popular consciousness even today. As the voice of the narrative, he was predominantly selling his story to subjects of the Commonwealth.
a. Whose story is it ?
b. Who is telling the story ?
c. Who is the story being told to ?
Stories are a reflection of the society and times in which
they were birthed. Which is why I think that the ‘Hero’s Journey’ may not be
the most appropriate lens to view them through.
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| Image source: https://blog.reedsy.com/guide/story-structure/heros-journey/ |
Stories emerging from different social contexts are coloured
by the circumstances unique to that context. Nuclear families have become a
norm only recently in urban India. It is therefore not surprising that a
majority of our narratives are dotted with countless characters - often
journeying along parallel tracks leading to the same destination nevertheless.
Perhaps the most extreme example of this would be the Mahabharat. At a bird’s eye level it is the story of the five Pandava brothers, their hundred Kaurava cousins and the war that is borne out of the question of succession to the throne. Lending grey tones to the tale though is a motley crew of aunts and nephews, uncles and nieces, grandsires and grandchildren from across six generations. Little wonder then that this is the world’s longest epic.
The Kaurava prince Duryodhana is often perceived as the
antagonist but interestingly, there is an adaptation where he is the hero. The
work is titled Urubhanga which translates into ‘the breaking of the thighs’, in
reference to the manner of his death. In a similar vein, Bharathiar’s Panchali
Sabatham (the curse of Panchali) puts Draupadi at the fore of the narrative.
So isn’t it unfair to try and imprison every story within
the boundaries of the traditional Hero’s Journey? Who’s to say who the
hero(ine) is ?!
Sometimes, stories break free from their usual forms. All it
takes is
A storm of
creativity
A stroke of
inspiration
A story no
longer in shackles
Leaps onto
paper off a pen tip
New wine in
a new bottle!
A narrative
can be expressed in different forms all at once. Many of us would have learnt
to make an entry in a diary or write a letter to a friend while in school.
Funnily enough, we tend to forget about these after our board exams in class
twelve. ‘Riot’ by Shashi Tharoor toys around with this idea in that it
chronicles the story of a young American girl killed during a riot through
newspaper articles, postal exchanges, personal journals and even poetry!
There’s no
dearth of means to the end and to know more you head to the final section of
this post - Kaavad, moʻolelo and more !
While we’re
on the subject of things we learnt in school, another interesting story teller
comes to mind. This being the age of the internet and everything, none of us
are strangers to memes or digital content of any sort. However, what makes Matt
Shirlee’s work (@mattsurlee on Instagram) interesting to me is that all his
content is presented as graphs and pie charts !
How would
you think about it if I worded it saying that a police officer killed a girl
because she was charging towards another, knife in hand ?
As we can
see, putting the spotlight on any one part of this incident separately, blurs
objectivity and has unpleasant consequences. You can read more about this in
the link we’ve shared beneath!
No one has captured it all better than Mike Jones in his poem ‘Storyteller’ where he says
With each
telling they are born anew
And when my
story is ended, I’ll still be alive
In the tales that I’ve given to you.
While we were
piecing together this post, we stumbled upon some brilliant and insightful
content. You can check them out here!
1. Kurt Vonnegut on the Shape of Stories (English)
2. The Hero's Journey explained - English and Tamil
3. Sandeep Sanyal on Narratives in India History (English)
4. Story telling traditions around the world (1)
5. Story telling traditions around the world (2)
6. Storyteller by Mike Jones
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