Stories are powerful

I can distract you for a moment for sure.

You might be seriously thinking as what all goodies Chinese Prime Minister will offer to us when he is in our country soon. You might be wondering when our Ex-PM will open up to tell his side of stories, if any. Or you might be evaluating the pros and cons of Kerala state following Gujarat model as directed by supreme court, as far as total prohibition is concerned. Even if you are fully engrossed in these thoughts, all I have to say is “Hey listen to this story” and your eyes and ears will eagerly look forward to my story.

"Those who tell the stories rule society”- Plato. Stories are that powerful.

We had an old mousi ( aunt), distant relative of my father. She stayed with us for a good amount of time to look after us, when we were little kids. She knew the technique to contain us and make us quiet. She would tell us stories from Ramayana. Our favourite was story of Soorpanaka, the devilish sister of Ravana. Mousi would enact well to describe Soorpanaka having  huge belly, crooked eyes and a dirty heart – including oversized left and the right side of it - to show the severity of devilishness Soorpanaka possessed.  We used to concentrate fully till Laskshmana cut her nose and ears for trying to cheat him and his brother Lord Rama. This story alone was good enough to keep us quiet for an hour and also to drive the point that evil would get punished severely. We never got tired of hearing such stories again and again.

Some time ago I had to manage a 5 year old!  I volunteered to him that I would tell him a story, so that I could bring him to my side of the story. I started off with “monkey and the cap seller”. “I have heard this many times, tell me some other story” was his reaction. Next I tried “Thirsty crow”, the same story repeated. Finally I ran out of all those fables I had studied in my childhood days but could create little enthusiasm in him with those stale ones. Becoming  Lakshmana, for that matter  Soorpanaka, was not an option for me, I don’t look anyway closer to them, more over I thought he would not be able to relate well those old stories! Then I thought of switching to new-gen stories. Harry Potter came to mind, the only one I knew. I had managed to watch the first movie in that series and I could tell him about the magic using the broom! But I decided not to venture into using a “broom”, that too for an unintended purpose. Pictures of those victims in our capital who tried to misuse the broom to find a magical solution, but failed miserably suddenly came to my mind. I may fall flat!  So I had to pay a price for not knowing suitable modern era stories to narrate to him - I ended up in playing whatever games he was interested in, which was not that bad though as I had imagined!

Like story-telling, story-making is equally important. Studies have found that at any given point of time, human brain is capable of receiving more than 11 million bits of pieces of information. But practically one can be aware of only around 40 of them. Rest of the information is processed unconsciously and stored as stories in our brains. So, when you suddenly wake up from a dream that you were on top of Mount Everest, don’t think your brain is acting crazy. It is the result of your brain storing unconsciously the event narrated in your 7^th class by history teacher about the achievement of Sir Edmund Hillary by conquering that peak – while you were willfully busy nagging your friend in the front bench!

Each one of us surely has some mission, big or small, to accomplish in our lives. Gandhiji had a mission to free India through a non-violent movement. Martin Luther King Jr had a mission to abolish racial inequality. These great people had beautiful stories to tell to back their missions. If you also have a mission of that scale and impact, it’s well and good. If not, you will still have a small-scale mission like becoming an expert in some area or working towards certain social welfare initiative. 

To pursue your mission passionately, you need to build good stories around it. You have to refine and reinforce those stories by narrating to a few of your friends if not to yourself.  

At the end of the day, once your mission is accomplished  your stories can become so inspirational, somebody may listen to you and write your biography. Or who knows, you would become so good in story-telling, you may end up in writing your autobiography. At the least, when a young fellow approaches you, you need not break your head to find a good story then, you can tell your own story in a much more convincing manner.

Start framing your stories, today! Make your mission possible.