KOCHI: Kalyani Gopakumar can’t remember a single day when she went to bed without listening to stories. Sitting beside her grandmother, young Kalyani soaked in all the tales her ‘ammooma’ weaved. From ‘Angaravalli,’ a Malayalam version of ‘Cinderella,’ the made-up horror stories to lores that shook the villagers of the olden times, she listened to all of them with wonder.
Through every story, Kalyani fashioned a world of imagination, where characters whirled freely. After several years, unknowingly Kalyani also imbibed the knack for storytelling and grew up with a passion for spreading the art of narration. “Both my grandmothers used to narrate stories.
However, it was my maternal grandma from Kanyakumari, who was a keeper of all the special stories. When I visit, she unfolds all these tales and worlds for me. I believe that certain values and beliefs can be carried down the generations through the art of storytelling,” says the Thiruvananthapuram resident.
Though she runs an interior design and execution firm in Kochi called ‘The Portrait,’ Kalyani finds time to enrich the next generation with stories. The storyteller visits summer camps and schools and introduces the world of literature to the children. So far, she has told many tales to more than 100 children.
“When kids say they want to listen to a story, what they need is your attention, not just the story. They should be given enough care to make them feel wanted. When you tell a story to your ki.
