Storytelling by Geeta Ramanujam, Founder of Kathalaya | #GetSetParent | #ChildrensFest

0:00 [Music] hey everyone how are you doing hope you've been enjoying the festival to the hilt and you've been participating in the art workshops and listening to the beautiful stories and meeting the amazing authors today we have another action-packed day which is day four of the get set parent children's literature art and music festival in association with vishwaranga

0:31 [Music] today we're going to do a lot of interesting things we're first going to meet mrs gita ramanujam from kathalya as she enthralls us with some amazing stories we're going to make our own book of doodles with dev smitha and finally we're going to meet a father-son duo as they teach us how to make amazing puppets so i hope you're all geared up for day four but before we get into today's

1:04 uh session you know what to do press the bell icon to stay subscribed onto my youtube channel get said parent with pallavi and also follow me on my insta and my facebook handles so that you are completely tuned to all the amazing stuff we do on our channel so kids today we're going to start off on a really fun note we have this illustrious lady with us uh this afternoon her name is mrs gita ramanujam she's

1:31 from the kathalya trust and is known as the pioneer of storytelling in india she has done phenomenal work in this field and is known to bring folklore and grandma's tales to life she is the recipient of several international and national awards and she's an ashoka fellow as well so without much further ado i'm very very uh delighted to invite on to our channel today the beautiful mrs gita

2:04 ramanujam over to you mrs gita when you're happy and you know you clap your hands when you're happy and you know you clap your hands when you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it when you're happy and you know you clap your hands when you're happy and you know you snap your fingers when you're happy and you know you snap your fingers when you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it

2:31 when you're happy and you know you snap your fingers when you're happy and you know you slap your thighs when you're happy and you know you slap your thighs when you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it when you're happy and you know you slap your thighs when you're happy and you know you say hello hello when you're happy and you know you say hello hello when you're happy and you know it and

2:58 you really want to show it when you're happy and you know you say hello hello and there was a very happy man and this happy man was going from one village to another village telling stories and he was singing this song as he went on his caravan and as he was riding his caravan he stopped because in this particular village where he landed he knew there were a lot of children

3:32 but he also knew that this was not there was something not right it was something not okay and this was the time when he decided to step in to that village and to find out why when there were children nobody was laughing shouting screaming nothing so our happy man

4:02 went to the gate and he opened ah [Music] you see this gate was rusty because nobody had gone in nobody had come out he went inside and he said children where are you children but nobody responded

4:36 and then he said i scream you scream your scream for ice cream saskaroola if you want chocobo ravaniland come on children i'm sure some of you might like an ice cream maybe there are boys let's go

5:07 fly a kite up in the air so high let's go fly a kite nobody was responding lollipops lollipops red and blue and green where are the children ring ice cream

5:46 he looked down and there was this little girl who's tugging at him and he said wow that's nice i'd give you a chocobo and he gave her a chocobo and there was someone else pulling her uncle i think i want a vanilla oh i want butterscotch i want a balloon i want a kite i want everything i want some toys you have something i like your heart can i have your heart and all the kids that come out of all

6:14 the houses and now they started singing again when you're happy and you know you clap your hands when you're happy and you know you clap your hands when you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it when you're happy and you know you clap your hands i'm the children were dancing and singing and who dares to love there was a sound that was coming behind him he turned around and he saw a tall

6:45 man with a moustache and a big hat and he asked that man who are you the man said i am the mayor of this town and we don't allow anyone to laugh or sing you can't make the children laugh you know but why well that's the rule and who sets the rules well there is a monster nobody has seen that boss he looks like

7:15 an animal they say he looks like a bird a crocodile i don't know what but that monster comes every evening and he takes away someone or the other and you always hear someone screaming ah [Music] so we don't allow anyone to laugh or sing in this village you know children are very scared here it's very rare that you have them all outside here and by the time the happy man looked around all the children had run

7:47 back into their villages and they had gone into their houses and shut the doors if you looked at their families the fathers were always ready and the mothers the children so now the happy man was a little concerned and he said i think i should go and meet this monster may have said i wouldn't do it if i were you i'm going to meet this monster

8:20 now if you dare disobey me i'll have you hang from this tree tomorrow evening i'll have you hunk you understand you won't be alive oh that doesn't matter i think i'm not afraid of my life so that happy happy man all the children before they went back they talked at him and said uncle don't go that monster will kill you uncle don't go

8:51 the happy man said when you are a happy person when you speak the truth that's what my mother always said you don't have to be scared of anything and so he took his bag and he took on his put on his hat and then he started going up and he started climbing that mountain he climbed and climbed and climbed and climbed up up up above that mountain

9:24 because the monster was staying beyond that mountain so he climbed and climbed and climbed and climbed and walked and walked and walked until he was very tired and then he ran down that hill and there was a beautiful valley and in that valley there was a big pond in that there were lovely butterflies there were roses and there were beautiful flowers and he thought such a beautiful valley why would why would a monster stay here i think

9:56 these people have got illusions i don't think there's any monster here in fact he loved the fragrance of the flowers he loved the bees buzzing two frogs came out of that pond and they were singing a song ah

10:27 [Music] hmm everything is so happy here taught our happy happy man now he was also feeling very hungry and he was very tired so he removed his

10:59 hat and then he decided to remove his cloak too because he was feeling very very tired now there was a beautiful lovely big people tree he went and sat under that tree and he began to feel very sleepy since he was very tired he had nothing to sleep and nothing to you know eat he was so tired he was very tired

11:30 and now he sat there and he was about to sleep when he heard a thundering sound and he heard top top top the sound of the earth shaking now he was a little scared even though he was a brave and happy man he was sitting under that tree

12:02 and he felt someone coming from behind him it was a loud breathing sound [Music] he was a bit scared and though he wanted to convince himself the breeze it didn't help his mother no he thought of his father who said

12:32 always be courageous now he had a bag right so he put his hand inside the bag and he took out a mirror and he looked at that mirror he looked at that mirror and he told himself i'm fine i'm okay but he could see that he was sweating all over and he tried to pep himself up because he saw he saw something coming very close to him

13:05 now this monster was behind him and the monster was almost going to crush a man because he came and he was about to kill our happy man and it was at that time that a happy man was also looking at the mirror so he

13:35 looked at the mirror and he saw this and he screamed and then he heard top a big loud sound crash behind him he turned around and he saw this huge man from this end to that end lying i don't know whether he was dead or not but i

14:06 he couldn't make out where his eyes were where his nose was because it was so ugly it was terrible but what was transparent is one heart which was very ugly oh yak now our storyteller our happy man wanted to know if this man or this monster was alive he was a bit scared but he did go and he put his ears and saw that his heart had stopped beating

14:37 completely and that monster was lying now the happy man is really happy happy that this ugly monster especially with the ugly heart had died so what did he do well he put on his cloak and he put on his hat and then he claimed and climbed and

15:09 climbed that mountain and when he climbed to the top of that mountain he found all the children downstairs below that mountain because they were all looking to see if this man would come back alive and when they saw this happy man they were so happy that they began to sing again when you're happy and you know you clap your hands when you're happy and you know you clap your hands when you're happy and you know it and

15:39 you really want to show it when you're happy and you know you clap your hands now as he was singing the mayor came and told the happy man well i didn't expect you to be alive you know why don't you be the mayor of this town the happy man said no i can't because i need to make other children happy in other villages and i need to go on my way and as he began to go to make that move there

16:06 was that little girl who said uncle don't go and he said i have to go children and then little girl said but uncle uncle you didn't tell me how that monster died you didn't tell me how he died now it was for those children to answer so one child said the monster died because he screamed aloud

16:39 the happy man screamed along do you think so i don't think so and then some of them said some children said the monster died because the happy man had a very nice heart well that was also not the right answer well i'll tell you what you remember that he pulled out a mirror so for the first time when he saw his own reflection in the mirror he also the monster for the first time

17:11 looked at his own reflection in that mirror and you know the monster had never seen his ugly heart and when he saw his ugly heart in the mirror he stopped the heart stopped and that's how a monster died and that ugly heart was not really physically ugly but you see that monster had a very bad heart because he would carry away children he would carry away people and he would make that village very

17:41 unsound to live in but now that the monster had died all the children were very happy and they all shouted yay because you know children need to be happy so when you're happy and you know you clap your hands when you're happy and you know you clap your hands when you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it when you're happy and you know you clap your hands when you're happy and you know you

18:10 snap your fingers when you're happy and you know you snap your fingers when you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it when you're happy and you know you snap your fingers when you're happy and you know you slap your thighs when you're happy and you know you slap your thighs when you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it when you're happy and you know you slap your thighs

18:33 when you're happy and you know you say hello hello when you're happy and you know you say hello hello when you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it when you're happy and you know you say hello hello when you're happy and you know you say goodbye goodbye when you're happy and you know you say goodbye goodbye when you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it when you're happy and you know you say

18:59 goodbye goodbye when you're happy and you know you do all five hello goodbye when you're happy and you know you do all five hello goodbye when you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it when you're happy and you know you do all five hello goodbye and there went a happy man

19:30 he pulled on his sledge and his caravan and he went away to another village and he kept wandering from one village to another village to make hundreds and thousands of children happy now isn't that a good story story of the monster with an ugly heart is there a monster really with an ugly heart i think we all have they're all kind of monsters with ugly

20:00 hearts sometimes isn't it and this was a very true experience for me because you know not all the time people are very friendly very nice so when i was teaching i was an english teacher and someone who didn't like the way i was teaching english was very critical about me and i felt very sad i was very disheartened and that's when i went

20:30 i went to my own home in chennai they always used to exchange a lot of things with my father and i told my father you know that person was a person with an ugly heart and he said from where you get that expression i told him i read this folk tales from poland and there is this monster with an ugly heart in krakow i don't know where it is papa and he said well why don't you write an article and

21:01 send it to the newspapers and i did that on an old typewriter that my father had well it got published it got published in the hindu first page and this was in 1994. well after that i became a storyteller and had a chance because i was invited to the storytellers museum in poland i went there and where did i go i went to krakow and what did i see i see this big ugly

21:32 monster it's in a park it's in a children's park and children can actually go through the mouth of this ugly monster and it's a game and i was so happy that this was a true story maybe and that i could actually go to poland and actually saw my story come alive 10 years later and that's the story for for you from poland this is the storyteller show and today we're going to listen to a story of a girl

22:04 whose name was inga and who was very very lazy and she hated working she did not like to work at all she always sat with her hands on her lap she never helped her mother she never helped her father nor her brother nor her sister while they swept swapped cooked

22:36 and made a lot of things clean and tidy she sat hands on her lap now this can't go on for too long can it so one day it was the holiday time and she went to her cousin's house for the holiday there were a lot of cousins and she had her own room and all the cousins were all cleaning up tidying up cleaning their shelves and reading the

23:07 books and putting them back in their places but not dinga inga sat hands on her lap her room was getting very messy dirty filthy the book scattered everywhere and dust and the smell but inga just sat hands on her lap could you do that oh my god what would she do now

23:39 inga was also not too happy what would she do and suddenly that night [Music] there was a godfather and the godfather said hey [Music] i know how you're feeling he snapped his fingers he clapped and a magic

24:10 there were five little froggies which appeared and they sat on inga's fingers then what happened suddenly her hands began to itch and it began to move and she could feel the movement oh my god this is wonderful my fingers are moving my fingers are moving and now these five magicians also got into her right hand she could now move all her ten fingers

24:43 inga was so happy her thumbs her pointer finger middle finger the ring finger and the tiny finger oh she felt so wonderful it was lovely she could put all her fingers here is tom king here is thunkin who are you who are you how are you today sir very well and thank you run

25:14 and hide run and hide there was pointer there was middle finger there was ring finger and the tiny little finger so all her fingers wished each other and they got together and they did a lot of work they swept they swabbed they cleaned and they made inga so happy she had a big smile on her face

25:47 and inga no longer sat hands on her lap that was the story also from sweden it is a folk tale but it applies to all of us doesn't it this is the storyteller show and today we have a picture story for you now it was independence day which was august 15th a row of houses

26:18 and this was on mg road they say now these houses were all the same and nobody talked to each other who was staying in these houses then there was a man was so happy and he was painting a national flag as you can see now as he was painting there was a crow

26:49 who when he saw the kesarka dibba thought it was kesari bhat so now he wanted to pick up now when he went and picked up he found that it was paint so where did he go he went and dropped it on one of the houses now there was a painter who was staying there and his name was paraman now paraman came out and he saw that on the roof of the house

27:22 there was a patch one orange spot now he got an idea since he was a painter he felt very happy he brought his box of paints started painting his roof and when he painted his roof he made it look like a sky and he put a rainbow and he painted his windows now his whole house changed when his whole house changed his neighbor who heard patak sound

27:54 came out and said hey paraman what are you doing hey i'm painting my dream house he said oh come come come have a cup of chai with me and now paraman went to his neighbor's house and after that he had a cup of chai and at that time his neighbor said you know my childhood dream was always to go in a ship and to sail on the sea dharman said

28:26 hey i can help you i can change your house so we'll make the entrance a little different ah said mr singh i think that's a good idea and soon they had the entrance of the house look like a ship now just imagine when you're entering a house you're entering through a ship as the doorway now talk talk talk talk talk the sound

28:58 that was coming interested the neighbor and who was the neighbor she was amina begum and amina vegam said hey what are you guys doing you know what my dream was to always live in the taj mahal aha they both said so what do they do they made her house like an arch they put some minarets and they made it look almost like the

29:29 taj mahal she was so happy now rosie the neighbor said i always wanted to fly high in the sky like in a balloon you know i love flying objects so all of them helped rosie and they tied balloons and a lot of things in our house put some umbrellas and change the way a house looked now you see rosie's house looks

30:01 so different so now in that street the houses that all changed you see the same drab houses now looked so colorful only one house remained and all these neighbors started talking to each other now and then they said ah you know we should live like this together celebrate all our festivals

30:31 together and be happy hey ho they said at that time it was not called mg road so that street had no name so all of them decided that they will call it mg road which was the mahatma gandhi road and now you see there's the houses don't look any more like this but they all looked very very colorful the last house is still vacant

31:05 do you think you want to come and live your dreams in that house maybe you can make it the way you want and live happily with all your friends now that was a story of paraman and his dream house i'm sure you liked it absolutely amazing mrs gita we had such an amazing time and we are so looking forward to a

31:35 second session of storytelling that you're going to be doing with us on this festival so kids let's just take a quick break and come running back because we have deb smitha who is going to show us how doodling works and how we can make our own story books so let's take a quick break and come back and join deb smitha for a doodling workshop all right so see you soon at the other end [Music]

32:12 bye [Music] you