Telling stories that bring about a change is what Srividya Veeraraghavan, the mother of a 10-year-old, loves to do.
Having been used to telling stories at various libraries in and around Ashok Nagar and Villivakkam, the lockdown opened a new avenue for her - her Facebook page called Story Train Chennai. “I have been doing live sessions every Wednesday and also sending stories as voice messages to friends and family. I wanted them to share these stories with others since I believe stories have the power to change,” she said. Though Sunday morning began quite normally, she didn’t expect her name would be mentioned by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann Ki Baat series. Mr. Modi said she told stories from Indian epics.
“It came as a huge surprise to me and a big honour for my work of the past five years to be recognised by the PM himself,” she said.
Ms. Veeraraghavan said though from her childhood books have always been her best companions, it was her mother Seethalakshmi who told her stories and created in the the love for telling them. She goes to schools and corporates giving programmes that would suit the audiences.
“I quit my job in a private company and have taken this as my full time passion. My audiences make me tell stories. For adults, I mix stories from my own life and from books that I read. I am usually invited for employee engagement,” she said.
As a person who loves to hear and tell stories, she always tells audience to take back stories to more people.