We at Gyaan Adab decided to celebrate International Women’s Day with The Storytellers. On the 8th of March, our storytellers for the evening trickled into our space and were awaiting a strong line-up of stories, highlighting the perspectives and voices of women.
An 1894 work of literature, The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, narrated by Pranav suggests that for women of the time, many freedoms that they desired were denied to them because of the repressive nature of marriage and, more broadly, society.
Next, we had Darshan narrate Namita Gokhale’s Omens, Scare and Profane. In the words of Jehanara Wasi, a Delhi yuppie discovers The Meaning of Life in Hardwar in Gokhale’s story.
This was followed by Hina’s narration of Urmila the Ultimate by Manjula Padmanabhan. And lastly, Ajitha narrated Rabindranath Tagore’s Chitrangadha, the story of a mythological princess from Manipur who is discovered by Arjuna.
An interesting discussion ensued. Among other salient points, the differences in plot in stories with female protagonists was brought to the fore. Soon after, the evening came to a close with a group photo and hot cup of chai for everyone!
