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We all have stories: stories that are inside of us, waiting to be told, waiting to be heard. Stories about our first love, how emotions grow from the heart, how conversations go on for hours. Rajat Meghnani spun a web of stories, weaved through conversations in the udaipur Rooftop event. This was how Rajat Meghnani brought the storyteller within us into life.
Our star narrator on May, the 15th was Rajat Meghnani, popularly known as the ‘Kahaniwala Rajat’. He is presently a programming director in Radio City in Udaipur. With a colossal career experience of 10 years as a radio jockey, storyteller and voice-over artist, Rajat joined us to throw some light on the virtues of and the art of storytelling. His storytelling session on the radio named ‘Chali Kahaani’ was an episodic oration of Munshi Premchand’s short stories.
The opening by Rajat highlighted the WFH hassles faced by a normal office goer and by ones in a creative field. Even during the lockdown, he, along with his team had to ensure regular news coverage, the unhampered flow of conversations and the meticulous covering of the tirelessly tiring service by the doctors and the policemen towards the citizens the lockdown. Rajat also talked about the methods of finding frequencies such as a diary method, third-party surveys, and social media, which consequently help them in counting the traffic in a particular area.
So began the plot weaving through conversations by our very own Kahaniwala. Mahabharata, the epic tale of Indian mythology has left several open ends and unanswered questions. The question put to all the attendees was, “Who do you think was the protagonist in Mahabharata?” Understanding Mahabharata has been the toughest challenge. With innumerable characters, and their individual stories weaved this celebrated epic. This question was in itself a big challenge to answer.
While Harshita Lakhotia, an attendee chose nobody as the protagonist (as seen at 31:15), Prerna Shekawat chose Draupadi as the protagonist (at 31:55). Kaushal Menaria had an altogether different take. He chose Duryodhana as his hero (see 40:05). When Karna, the Suryaputra was chosen as a protagonist by Nimisha Sinha (from 34:10 onwards), it opened a series of discussions. There were other participants like RJ Ved who seconded Karna as a hero. Rajat narrated a story on Karna from Treta Yuga starting from 43:15.
Such a discussion lead to an air of personal stories which we mention below:
- At 16:50, we hear Shailesh Purohit’s struggling story,
- Beginning from 20:20, we nod along with Ved’s filmy radio story with a filmy line “Is duniya me career aur mohabbat ke naam par insaan ka sabse zyada katta hain“, and
- At 46:00, we laugh along with Mudrika’s not-so-villainous story
There were several conclusions that we reached. We mention a few of them here. There were views received from a survivor’s point of view, like those of Karna. In a story, a protagonist can be anyone and anything. And even if you are not a protagonist of your own life, there is going to be a point where you will be a protagonist for someone or something and that will make you a hero in your own eyes. After all, it is about unlocking imagination!
With, “Mazza ata hain itne saare artists ko saath dekh kar” to “Sunne wala chahie hota hain”, Rajat taught us how to network and make conversations through stories. He weaved a web of stories which led to an air of conversations. We thank Rajat for his time and we hope to see him soon again!
This is Rooftop Rajasthan Studio for you, until next time! Stay creative.
Catch this conversation on our youtube channel: Networking through Stories with Rajat Meghnani | The Circle Udaipur | Rajasthan Studio Experiences