While looking back at the most memorable periods of our childhood, we often think about the days and evenings spent outdoors in the company of friends and the exciting holidays with family where we were told stories by our grandparents or parents. These stories, original or not, are an integral part of India’s extensive culture of oral storytelling culture.
Folk stories that emerged in remote parts of the country often morphed into different languages, cultures and geographic regions that they entered. These stories, often cautionary, came bearing an innate moral as a means of inculcating it on to young, impressionable minds. Today, in the wake of a digital era where animated stories on YouTube are fed to children, the tradition of folk storytelling is losing steam rapidly.
Concerned by the endangered nature of India’s folk stories, a culturally diverse team from across the country came together over their shared interest in the art form with a vision to preserve its last remaining traces. Born out of this effort is folk log, a flagship initiative that collects, archives, translates and reimagines Indian folk narratives and has been doing so for over a decade now.
The team accommodates a diverse range of creatives from writers to filmmakers to VFX artists and more. The project is currently supported by the British Council and it strives to archive diverse and inclusive stories from every corner of the country. The archives are also experimental and often take shape through different mediums such as comic strips, animated videos, films, live plays and more.
The team is also currently accepting volunteers who share a passion for listening and collecting stories from yesteryear’s India which can be archived and reimagined in contemporary or even futuristic ways.
To get involved or know more, click here.
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