A story cannot be defined.

It can take on many forms and moods, it can transform from being an extension of the writer to an entity by itself. A storyteller is instrumental in forging that identity.

PeaceWorks celebrated World Storytelling Day on 20 March, with the team at Kolkata Storytellers— Priyanka Chatterjee, Kavita Gupta and Arpita Nag, and children from New Age Society for All, Anandan (where we conduct the Share Stories Open Minds project) and an NGO from Tangra, at Oxford bookstore.

Priyanka, Kavita and Arpita began the programme with music, setting the stage for what would prove to be a wonderful few hours spent with stories. The children had a wonderful time, listening to stories about Ram and Narada, The Monkey and The Crocodile and How the World was Coloured.

Photographer: Samit Biswas

Photographer: Samit Biswas

Rekha Majhi, a student at Anandan, narrated a story on friendship that she wrote herself.

Rekha Majhi narrates her story. Photographer: Samit Biswas

This was followed by a story enacted by the three storytellers. The Zamindar and the Genie is a firm favourite with listeners—young and old—and the antics of the characters, particular the genie and the zamindar, had the children in splits. The storytellers used Hindi, Bangla and English as well as a multitude of props to narrate the stories.

Photographer: Samit Biswas

After the stories were told, Lions Club of Calcutta, Roshni, distributed chocolates amongst the children.

A lovely evening, spent with some lovely stories!

–Paroma Sengupta