A very ancient art that is puppetry which originated
in the 5th century BC Ancient Greece is a very unique4 form of
entertainment across the world. It involves story telling through puppets which
are moved using hands, string or any other form of movement. A story is narrated
in the form of a song or a narration from a person or by using some sort of
media. There are around 30 different types of puppetry forms in the world but
the sad part is that all of these are on the verge of fading away. Most of the
puppetry forms are no longer even known except in books.
One such puppetry art form is string puppetry also
known as ‘Nokku Vidya Paava Kali’ in the local interior parts of India. A young
girl with her talented fingers is trying to save this form of puppetry from
fading away .K.S. Renjini, who is a student of 8th grade is 16 years
old. A resident of a very small village in Kottayam District in Kerala is
trying to keep this art form alive.
Renjini learned this art form from her grandmother,
who herself learned it from her grandparents at just 12 years of age but due to
old age she couldn’t perform any longer and now Renjini is determine to take
this legacy further. Renjini performs the epics- Ramayana and Mahabharata with the
help of balancing puppets on a stick on her lips. She does this with the same
ease as her grandmother. This required a lot of concentration and practice, but
she is happy to log in extra hours to p[polish her art and keep this legacy
alive.
