Wari at Kahaani Festival, Jaipur

Octave Foundation was invited to perform at the Kahaani storytelling festival for children, held at Jaipur on December 4 th and 5 th . The group took along with it among three stories, two from the ones they performed at Instituto Cervantes in November as a part of the Ruben Dario commemoration month.

While the two stories – The Reason of Ahasuerus and Birth of the Cabbage were performed as they were, with a slight improvisation of the latter – the group rewrote to adapt The Reason of Ahasuerus to make it easier for a younger school-going audience. Keeping the basic idea intact - that of a discussion of animals in a forest over what should be the best form of a government, Octave Foundation’s performing
cast brainstormed to recreate the idea in Hindi, Indian political context and simplifying it so that a 10-12 year-old child can take away the essence of Dario’s original story that in whose hands does the happiness of a people indeed lie. The dramatized reading cast in Jaipur consisted of Nicky Chandam, Preeti Aggarwal Mehta, Puneet Sikka, Anuja Jaiman and Gunjan Gupta.

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Birth of the Cabbage was turned into a further improvised piece with adaptation appropriate for an 8- year-old and above audience. Along with these two stories, the group also performed a Manipuri story that was adapted into a Hindi-language story earlier this year as a part of Octave Foundation’s storytelling series titled Wari.

From what started as a dramatized reading approach to Dario’s three texts that Instituto Cervantes commissioned the Foundation to put forth, it is a step up to adapt and recreate the stories by an author who is not so popular in India. It is quite a marvel that what was written in the 19th century continues to be relevant in the 21 st century!

Stories performed:

1. Houdong Lamboiba | The Monk Cat
   A Manipuri folk story adapted by Nicky Chandam and Anuja Jaiman
   Language - Hindustani 

2. Birth of the Cabbage 
    Adapted from the comedy by Nicaraguan writer, Rubén Darío.
    Language - Hindustani, English

3. Kahani Democracy Ki | The Story of Democracy
    An ironical metaphor of the different kinds of government incarnate in animals.
    Adapted from the story ‘The Reason of Ahasuerus’ by Rubén Darío.
    Language :  English, Hindustani

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