The Kahaani Festival

On the 17^th and 18^th of November, our school was host to the Kahaani Festival. Even before it started we knew it would be a grand affair and that a lot of people would attend because of the scale at which it had been planned and organized, and especially the full- page color advertisements in the newspaper. It was a very interesting event, with the art of storytelling being presented in so many forms. I personally think that the play, ‘The Midsummer Night’s Dream’, presented by Wide Aisle Productions, was the best event but I also enjoyed a lot of the other events, especially ‘SALTBUSH’ by Insite Arts and Compagnia TPO from Australia, and the puppet show ‘Little Blue Planet’ by Katkatha. I also watched ‘Swaagat’ by Aakaar, ‘The Shum and Vi Show’ by Ishara Puppet Theatre, and ‘Ab Kahin Koi Ghum Na Ho’ by Rene Singh and her group of underprivileged children. Though I did not attend any of the workshops, I have heard a lot of people saying that they were very interesting and enjoyable.  They included a ‘Doodle Wall’ by Atanu Roy, ‘Introduction To Nagada- Indian Drums’ by Nathoo Lal Solanki, ‘Make Your Own Comic Strip’ by Subhadra Sengupta and Atanu Roy, ‘The Making of a Sock Puppet’ by Ishara Puppet Theatre, ‘Kirigami and Pop- Up Art’ by Sachin George Sebastian, ‘Story Painting’ by Bulbul Sharma, and ‘Catch the Creative Writing Bug’ by Manisha Chaudhary. Other performances were ‘Kathasuniasceal: A Feast of Fabulous Stories’ by Vayu Naidu, ‘ITIHAAS Ke Kisse’ by Smita Vats, ‘Nani Kahe Kahaani’ by Varsha Das, ‘The Role of Newspapers In the World We Live In’ by Anita Mani, and ‘Are you Icky, Yucky, or Mucky?’ by Anita Roy.

-Malak Khan

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