Visakhapatnam: Reviving little-known art form in times of lockdown

Visakhapatnam: Striking a balance between reviving the little-known art of storytelling and making effective use of lockdown time, Principal of Kendriya Vidyala No. 2, Nausenabaugh Nishikant Aggarwal comes up with 'Kissagoi.Stories Untold,' an educative channel on YouTube.

Kissagoi is a simple narrative of the bygone era. "This tradition of storytelling dates back to Mughal period. The narrative is close to how our granny used to narrate tales, making us glue to her lap," explains Nishikant.

The art does not need any prop or a photograph except the theme. "Initially, I thought of writing a book about unsung heroes of the country.

However, with an apparent decline in the reading habit among children, I decided to take the digital route. 'Kissagoi. Stories Untold' channel is an outcome of that," reasons the Principal of the school.

From mass killing of sparrows, a bird and its ecological impact to story of children bravery awards, Radhabinod Pal, Bengali jurist from India to the most famous IAS officer S R Sankaran, Nishikant has completed close to 20 digital stories in two series so far.

"It is hard to engage students in a constructive manner during lockdown. But I am glad that I could reach out to at least 60 per cent of the students in our school through this platform.

The stories covered in the channel have not been included in the textbooks," elaborates the Principal. At present, Nishikant's educative YouTube channel has 400-plus subscribers and has garnered 48,000 viewers so far.

"The idea is also to kindle curiosity among students and encourage them to explore more on the themes discussed in the story," he says.

With each episode lasting for about 10-15 minutes, the series of 'Kissagoi.Stories Untold by Nishi' were shot in Hindi. Soon, English subtitles will be added to the digital tales.

This apart, Nishikant has also created videos on how to register in 'The Ganga Quest 2020' competition. "This has encouraged several students to register for the contest without any hassle. The Ministry of Jal Shakti declared the video as official for registration," he adds.