Could your talk about your career journey?
I did my masters in psychology. I moved into industrial psychology. In DELPHI TCI, they were looking for HR executives, “We need HR executives who are Masters in Psychology rather than a HR MBA. I was the second rank holder. They reached out to my professor. I worked with a person who wants to be a soft skills facilitator. We worked on team building. Then, I moved to Sonata Software. I worked in training, with ten years of experience in HR. I had my son and opted of a full time option. I took a short break. In 2014, with a friend, we decided to start Katha Corner. This is a place where we would have storytelling sessions in the backyard for children. Both of us came from a theatre background. Year after year, we had the same children come in. I wanted to take my children own children with me to storytelling sessions.
I am self-taught. I attended a workshop with Eric Millar in Chennai. I trained with the Bangalore Storytelling Society. Then, I started performing in different schools. I performed for children. I am a freelance storyteller associated with Scholastic. I have experience as a performative storyteller. I have extensive experience to bring stories alive. I bring props. I engage children and we create a story together. The children become a part of the story. I alter the story to suit children’s reactions. One child will become the King and the others subjects in the same story. This way they own the story. In 2019, I started my first experiments with Kamishibai when I attended a workshop at a FEAST conference in Bangalore which was in association with Bangalore Storytelling Society. I did a workshop with two wonderful storytellers Jackie Kerin and Anna Manuel. I was there in the workshop and it felt like a light falling on a prism. There was so much to do with this form. Kamishibai started with the 1920s in Japan. Working on Kamishibai was to be part of something great.
Story Practices 