Meet Vinay Varanasi, the modern storyteller

Vinay Varanasi wants to create a platform for collective learning of mythological stories

November 18, 2021 05:54 pm | Updated 06:07 pm IST

Vinay Varanasi

Vinay Varanasi

One has heard these stories many times, the sketchy outlines of which are part of our vast remembered repertoire of mythology. But something compels you to listen when this young man tells the stories of Ganesha and Chandra, Kali or Sita. He tells the tales casually, in English, and it’s like seeing them come alive through a fresh pair of eyes.

Meet 29-year-old Vinay Varanasi from Bengaluru, who straddles many worlds with aplomb. He is an architect and design researcher by profession (he’s the co-founder of Unbind, a design education startup), a classical music lyricist, a painter, and a storyteller. Although these look like different compartments, he believes one thing flows into another, working to his advantage.

Recently, he completed the fifth session of an immersive storytelling series, ‘The Goddess: Six Fold’, hosted by the Chennai-based cultural platform Aalaap, with whom he collaborated to tell stories of six goddesses. “I was careful to choose goddesses that have a negative representation in patriarchal retellings. Sita, Radha, Kali...,” says Vinay. This series also helped him realise that people are seeking sincere answers.

And this seeking by the contemporary generation is what has revived an interest in mythology, he believes. “Today’s generation has the mindspace to actually listen and read. Our parents didn’t have the luxury to question. We have the resources, willingness and access to more information. I can pick up good translations of both the epics. Of course, we also have the Internet. I see many youngsters in the audience at my storytelling sessions,” says Vinay.

Interest in mythology

Vinay’s interest in mythological stories grew, like most Indians, when he began reading Amar Chitra Katha. “It was the biggest influence in my childhood. I liked the illustrations; I would read the same book a dozen times, wondering if there was more to the story.” But unlike most children, the fascination continued past his formative years and, much later, when he started attending discourses, he looked at them from a fresh perspective.

Vinay Varanasi and Vivek Sadasivam.

Vinay Varanasi and Vivek Sadasivam.

“I would accompany my mother to discourses at Gayana Samaja, Ram Mandira and other temples. That’s when I went beyond the physical layers of the stories; I realised they are not mere stories but gateways into a new realm of understanding. When I realised that every story has all this packaged within it, my confidence in the power of stories became stronger,” says Vinay.

Then, a few years ago, the young man discovered a passion for telling these stories to others. After attending many discourses and reading up, he realised the “inaccuracies in the way these stories are put out. I wanted to question that for myself and open a space where others can also question, without becoming authoritative.”

As a self-taught artist, Vinay also found that the most powerful way to tell stories is through art. He’s also very passionate about Carnatic music, and listening to concerts stirred something inside that led Vinay to explore lyrics. Having learnt to play the veena from his guru Kashi Vishalakshi, he says that it was she who introduced him to the power of lyrics. “That’s how I started writing lyrics for musicians. I mainly write pallavis. Ranjani-Gayartri have sung several of my pallavis.” He writes predominantly in Sanskrit, but also in Telugu and Kannada.

Going forward, Vinay says he would want to do more collaborations with visual artists, musicians, and dancers. “I would like to create a platform for collective learning of mythology.”

The Bengaluru-based writer is a freelance journalist.

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