The Bearer of Strings

Do the gadget crazy children today know about a certain 500 year old art form which used to entertain kings and queens? Do these adrenaline filled tiny tots know of the dying Indian heritage and how today it exists with its modified counterpart?

With a view to educate children about puppetry, its various forms and the rich Indian heritage, Enactus SRCC in collaboration with UNIMA India have organised a week long puppet festival in schools and NGOs, Sutradhar.

Day 3 of  Sutradhar Festival was hosted by Cambridge School, Noida, where traditional and modern string puppetry were performed by puppeteers from Katputhli colony, Shadipur and those who have been trained under Mrs. Ranjana Pandey and Ms. Anurupa Roy, President and Secretary of UNIMA India, respectively.

At first was the traditional string puppetry performance. Along with musicians on the Dhol and the Harmonium, did the puppeteers perform, and showed how the likes of kings like Amar Singh Rathore were entertained in their courts, with stringed marionettes. We told the children about the origin of String puppetry in India 500 years ago in Nagore, Rajasthan, and the crowd was fantastic in its response.

Post this was the show on modern string puppetry headed by Mr. Shamim Ansari. The children loved this as well, and it was pretty amusing to see that the children were standing on their seats to have a better watch, and their teachers were experiencing a hard time, trying to control them.

We told the children about the basic differences in the 2 types of the same form of puppetry. The teachers too appreciated the show and we surely will incorporate all the feedback in our future shows.

Frankly speaking, I couldn't have wished for a more responsive and enthusiastic crowd.

It was plain awesomeness.

By Ishan Gupta