Is the art and craft of storytelling dying? With the increasing tendency of families going the nuclear way and working parents have less time to attend to children, television is slowly becoming the only source of entertainment.
Children loved to spend time with their family, listening to old grandmother tales that were simple with morals but now trends have changed. However story telling can still be all the more exciting and thrilling and yet inculcate values and creativity in the little ones. Aavaranaa, the exclusive saree boutique in Alwarpet, today endeavored to revive the art of story telling for the new age kids through “Swamy Kathai”.
“Swamy Kathai” is Aavaranaa’s unique initiative to revitalize the art of story telling and inculcate a traditional touch among kids through theme sarees. Leading TV anchor Ms. Malini, and the famous singer – actor, Mr. Yugendran narrated various stories, depicted on hand woven sarees, from the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhaagavatam & Panchatanthra to an excited group of children at the Aavaranaa boutique. And answered many questions such as how was Sita kidnapped? Who is Kannappan? What does the peacock represent?
Aavaranaa boasts of a collection of exclusive hand woven sarees with a pictorial representation of extracts from various epical books and traditional stories. The pictures, hand printed with natural and vegetable dyes in rich colors like deep red, mild dark green, deep yellow, magenta, fawn and blacks, form vibrant and captivating images. Objects like the peacock which represent the onset of the monsoon and the paddy cultivation, an event that is central to the Indian way of life, are portrayed on sarees and salwar suits.
Ms. Malini & Mr. Yugendran narrated to an enthusiastic young audience, stories and chapters from the popular epics, Ramayana, Mahabharata & Panchtantra that are depicted on the sarees in a metaphoric style similar to many cave paintings. Sita’s Swayamvar is shown through Ram and a line of kings carrying bows standing before Sita waiting for her to choose a groom. Images and stories from the Vedas are also painted in a similar fashion. Also, depicted in the same manner are popular stories like the story of Kannappan, a devotee of Lord Shiva but unaware of how to worship him, one day noticed that the lingam’s eye was bleeding and offered his own eyes to the Lord. Moved by his gesture of faith and devotion Lord Shiva appeared before him, returned his eyesight and changed his name from Dhimmappan to Kannappan.
Besides theses themes, Aavaranaa also brags of a collection of Sloka sarees containing slokas like the Gayatri Mantra and other popular chants – all captured in interplays of fine threads. Sarees printed with the alphabets from the Hindi and the English languages along with a broad floral border at the base were some of other attractive theme sarees used at Aavaranaa that left the children in awe. Through these collections, Aavaranaa has not only reinvented a style statement but has also contributed towards creating a benchmark for education & knowledge of our rich culture and heritage.
“Sharing our rich values through these Aavaranaa sarees to such young minds was an enthralling experience. It has been such a pleasure spending time with them and I am sure these pictorial depictions of the epics would have helped the young minds capture the moments much more conveniently than flipping through the thick books narrating the same”, said Malini
Yugendran, Singer and actor said, “Theme sarees are a wonderful method to share stories of our rich heritage to young children. This is a very innovative method and the children seem to love the way stories were told. I really enjoyed spending time with such a lively lot!!”
Ms. Vijayalakshmi Krishna, Managing Partner, Aavaranaa said, “Theme sarees are a great way to spend quality time with children. The visual depictions enhance their perception of stories narrated and give them a chance to expand and explore their creativity. The trend also helps parents pass on age old traditions and customs to young ones through an interesting visual means and I am so glad with the collection being able to accomplish it thoroughly”
“Our ancestors used to narrate stories through pictures painted and stitched on fabrics and sarees but this part of our culture is sadly lost. Through our theme sarees, we would like to help people & explore these lost pleasures again! Like the children here, I’m sure many will love and cherish the experience,” said Ms. Soorya Krishna, Designer, Aavaranaa.
Swamy Kathai ended on a successful note and the children present in the audience were enriched through the event. Thrilled and overjoyed at the new experience, the workshop saw a number of content children bid adieu to the guests and host present.
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About Aavaranaa:
Creating a niche for itself in the women’s apparel segment, Aavaranaa is an exclusive saree boutique specializing in a variety such as silks, tussars, georgettes, crepes and chiffons. Aavaranaa is currently present in Chennai and in Coimbatore. A sapling amongst its competitors, Aavaranaa, is still in the nascent stage of development. However, their current retail presence is over 2500 sq ft. Aavaranaa set out to create a revolution in the silk saree segment in Coimbatore in the year 2001 and further stepped into Chennai in 2006.
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