Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 30: Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India brought a new programme today entitled ‘Story Telling Festival’ and introduced a unique concept of story presentation supported by theatrical enactments with the narratives by the writer himself under its Horizon Series. Today’s story was ‘Cheta’ in Dogri written and presented by highly acclaimed Dogri short story writer Chattarpal. This new initiative of ICCR Jammu in which strong narrative supportive by imaginative theatrical devises received overwhelming response.
Earlier welcoming the August gathering, Regional Director of ICCR Jammu Balwant Thakur shared his views behind this new concept of story presentation aimed at involving larger audiences. Interaction with the author along with the theatrical depiction of his story not only gives a sense of belongings to the story but also makes education more fun and joyful experience, he said.
Chattarpal is a celebrated writer in the Dogri Language with over 250 short stories, articles and literary works to his credit. Chattarpal has authored five major books, including ‘Tapu Da Aadmi’, a collection of Dogri short stories. He has been the recipient of many prestigious awards from various National organisations such as Sahitya Kala Parishad, New Delhi and the Ministry of Human Resource Development, India
The Dogri story ‘Cheta’ depicts the situation of an old retired school teacher suffering from senility and dementia. His forgetfulness is made fun of by his family and ridiculed by his other retired friends. He intends to go for a wedding in another town but forgets the name of the place when he tries to purchase a bus ticket. The Dogri story with its short plot has an innovative narrative style. The focus is on the psychology of the main protagonist suffering from the sense of shame and embarrassment that his unreliable memory causes.
The theatrical part was professionally enacted by versatile actors like Pawan Verma, Rahul Singh, Rajani Bhatti, and Shivam Singh. The lighting, stage design and costumes were artistically done by Mahikshit Singh and Ankush lakhnotra.
Prominent among those present on the occasion included Dr. Lalit Magotra, Madan Gopal Padha, Baljeet Raina, Dr. Sudhanshu Sharma, Prof. Seema Mir, Prof. Geetanjali Multani and Vandana Khajuria.
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