Yuval Harrari mesmerizingly explains in Sapiens how stories and humans’ ability to create and tell stories sets us apart from rest of the species on the planet. It makes us believe in the metaphysical and directs us to coordinate in sometimes unexplained ways. The understanding that our whole lives are just as much a constituent of stories as they are of food and water is a fact that makes me reflect every time. How incredible it is that we have created a world full of stories that we do not comprehend in their objective form but adhere by nonetheless. Humans are unconventional creatures going by the ‘type’ that the ecosystem has held on to with all other species, and stories are one of the biggest contributors in making us achieve that status. Please read ‘Sapiens’ by Yuval Harrari for this to make more sense.
Keeping this idea of the kind of pedestal I have placed stories upon, let me arrive to my individual standpoint with them. Like a lot of others who seek enchantment in life beyond what is physically around, I have pursued stories like a first time desert traveller would a mirage. And more often than not, discovered that fulfilment comes in different forms and each time in unprecedented ways when you’re an ardent reader or a fan of stories in any form. Fictions and stories have given me a life which would otherwise have been so much less enchanting that I wouldn’t even care to fathom.
My obsession with stories has its little reservations in terms of my preference of genres. Alongside the many political, romantic and historic stories that I do love; what stand out are the fictional sagas taking place in parallel, unreal universes such as ones housing Hogwarts and Westeros. My fascination with them has been intense enough for me to even get a tattoo that represents the epitome of fictional writing, inspired from the Game of Thrones books. To put it simply, stories are so intently a part of my life that I braved my mother’s fury to get myself inked with a term symbolizing my love for it.
Love for stories is not restricted to novels and grand fiction series. I believe everyone resorts to stories in their mind when the reality turns a little too much to take at times. We’re all romantics in that sense, aren’t we. We tell ourselves amazing stories and look forward to them coming true. We’re all weavers of circumstances, plots and technical whatnots of story writing in our minds. Even if one hasn’t picked up a novel his/her entire life, he/she has lived through a thousand stories in the mind and has been comforted by the efficiency and relevance of it. Imagine for a moment how dull it would be if we were to be deprived of our ability to curate stories. After all, the very stories that we tell ourselves are the motivation for us to keep going through life.
I could interpret the relevance of stories in life forever. For someone who’s vulnerable to the intensity of stories in any format, a platform has opened up to be a part of and to celebrate stories in its every form ranging from narration to music and art. Pakoda Tales is where we’re telling, listening to and interpreting stories until we have our hearts’ fill. I’ll leave you a link to the Instagram page that posts updates about the same in case you’re interested. You can be a part of the community online as well. See you there!
Instagram link – https://www.instagram.com/sdm_b.voc/
ficklesorts 
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