Could you talk about the work you are doing?
There are a lot of Indian picture storytelling formats. I did story cards In Warli, Madhubani and Gond. At the World Kamishibai Association I spoke about integrating Kamishibai with indigenous Indian art forms. Somewhere it feels like a full circle. Many people in India really like it. They use it as another added element in their storytelling. It has been a great journey of Kamishibai festivals, events and workshops hosted by the Indian Kamishibai Association.
We conducted an Integrated Gond art workshop with a reputed artist Mr. Raghavendra, we created Gond art for a traditional Japanese Folktale. We do Tezukuri Kamishibai sessions which is basically handmade Kamishibai. We pick one story, and storyboard specific to Kamishibai method of telling. We got an overwhelming response. It was magical. We got a lot of encouragement from Akiko from Japan. We thought why don’t we attempt something like this for the global audiences. IKA is planning to host a global Tezukuri festival. Our next plans are to use Kamishibai in education.
Last year, in October 2025 I went to Japan, to attend the international Kamishibai conference in Osaka. I shared Indian stories at the conference in the Japanese language. I took classes and I learnt the Japanese language. I will next be going to Japan in 2027 August.
I do a lot of sessions on storytelling, for storytellers, teachers and educators. I teach voice modulation and expressions.
I do a lot of puppet based storytelling. I have a whole collection of puppets. I focus on the story and how to make it come alive. I have performed at the Rangashankara main stage. I got opportunities multiple times to perform there.
Your favourite story?
Sharpen your saw – The story of the two woodcutters. They are caught in the rainy season. One wants to remain idle. While the other one wants to sharpen his axe. After the rains stop the woodcutter who sharped his axe was better equipped to deal with the wood. I believe this – continue to sharpen your saw. Don’t miss any opportunity to learn. I will be presenting a research paper soon at the SAC’26, International Conference Sustainability Across Cultures in Kerala, my paper title is Storytelling for Environmental Literacy: Adapting Chitrakathi and Kamishibai for Contemporary Ecological Awareness.
Story Practices 