Beyond the glass screen: How Kalyani Gopakumar is rewiring young minds through stories

"A flat digital screen leaves zero room for the child to wonder, while an orally narrated story provides empty spaces for its imagination to fill in." This is the core idea behind 'Oridathoridath by Kalyani', a passion project started by interior designer and storyteller Kalyani Gopakumar.

As a person who grew up in the magical world of folklore built by elders, Kalyani believes in the timeless allure of stories which can grip anyone's attention, irrespective of age. She describes herself a 'creative artist', who designs physical structures through her interior designing firm 'The Portrait' and imaginary worlds for children to meander, through 'Oridathoridath'.

The idea of 'Oridathoridath' stemmed from an incident that happened when her own son was an infant. She recalls how the baby reacted to her mother narrating a small story to him. She observed that even before a stage when he could comprehend words, he was actively listening to his grandmother. From then on she started documenting age-old stories she listened to from her own grandmothers.

What began as a Spotify podcast from the documented stories has now grown into a popular Instagram page dedicated to traditional folklores and mythical tales.

According to Kalyani, a child born with innate abilities to be creative should not be exposed to neon cartoons and fast-paced videos which can hinder its creative consciousness. To reignite a creative spark in the child, what she suggests is an old-school method: a story told in its own mother tongue.

“A child strong in his or her mother tongue can excel in all other subjects, be it science or mathematics,” Kalyani says. When a story is narrated in Malayalam, it makes it easier for a child growing amidst the lore-laden land of Kerala to resonate with it.

Through ‘Oridathoridath’, Kalyani creates an initiative for children to be enamoured by the beauty of stories. It is important for the elders to narrate the story and for the child to listen to it. Unlike the visual canvas that cartoons provide to kids these days, stories narrated can rewire the child’s creativity. They will wander in search of the ‘bhootham’ (ghost) whom they heard of through the story, instead of having the satisfaction of seeing it on the screen. Kalyani talks about how different kids had varying images of a ‘bhootham’ they heard from her story, when they were asked to draw it on a piece of paper.

During her workshops and storytelling sessions, she uses various methods to sustain the attention of children. The stories will be blended with short poems of Kunjunni Mash, old songs and creative activities. She uses voice modulation and her own collection of expressions to make the child listen to her.

However, Kalyani notes that as a storyteller she can only start off the journey. “It is up to the parents to make efforts to continuously expose their child to the world of stories”.

The whole process of storytelling and the child listening to it can act as a phase of parent-child bonding, she says.

Kalyani also fondly remembers a childhood memory from her younger years, when her grandmother told her the story of 'Angaravalli', the South Indian version of 'Cinderella'. It was not only a tale of a young girl trapped with her cruel stepmother, but a treasury of moral values as well. The story also had the warmth of the relationship she shared with her grandmother.