by What do most of us think of 2020? We crib about things we miss; we make peace with the situation. A few have lost few precious people or things this year. But for individuals like Ratna Goradia, a fiction writer base in US, 2020 has been a discovery of emotions. Looking at the brighter side of life, this very new mum is and writer is treading between motherhood and honing her skills as a audio storyteller. She’s also looking forward to bring out more stories. Her collection of audio stories are called Lori. You can click on the link shared below to listen to the lovely story series.
She shares with Mums and Stories that she’s had some time and wanted her audio stories to reach children who find themselves in the times of Covid.
Reminiscing her childhood memories, she shares, “ I grew up in the quiet suburbs of Bombay in a joint family with my sister and cousins in the house and lots of children in the building. I was a quiet and introspective girl but a happy one.
2020 has been a year of emotions for me with lots of ‘me time’. My baby girl was born in February and is now six months old, so yes I am a new and a first time mother. I wrote these stories at the end of 2016/ beginning of 2017 immediately after watching the restored Apu Trilogy in New York city. I was immediately inspired and the stories just poured out of me. While the film is brilliant in all aspects, the character Apu struck a chord with me. I felt like I knew Apu; I felt like there was a time when I even thought like him, probably when I was a child.
I was also pining for home (India) and writing about Hari, Shyam, and Pintu felt like a way of catching those memories before they escaped. No sooner had I written the stories than I knew that these had a strong audio element in them. I remember listening to audio stories on cassettes while growing up and those sent my imagination on so many interesting paths. I suppose the idea for converting the stories into audio stories came from there.
At first I recorded myself narrating them in my apartment using the songs from Pather Panchali. When I heard the narration plus the music I knew that this was going to be something exciting. Later that year I professionally recorded the stories with some help.
After my daughter was born I decided to refresh my search and realized that SoundCloud is a good first home to host the audio content. I spent a few weeks designing the logo, writing up the content and doing research and that meant less sleep and more exhaustion. It is hard to manage writing or taking out any spare time for oneself when you have a young child. But I have an amazing and supportive partner who keeps our daughter occupied and engaged in activities.”
Mums and Stories wishes the very best for Ratna for her future endeavours.
Nice