It’s often said that the key to learning about a country is to go to its hinterlands, but few manage to venture to these relatively untrodden roads. Voices of Rural India, a digital platform for rural storytellers, bridges this gap and brings stories for us to enjoy while simultaneously creating an alternative revenue system for the village dwellers. Shivya Nath, one of the three co-founders of this not-for-profit initiative, tells us more. By Bayar Jain
1. Tell us a little bit about Voices of Rural India and how it came up?
View this post on Instagram
Rural communities have lost their livelihoods due to the COVID-19-induced lockdown, supply chains have been disrupted and alternate income streams have thinned. Voices of Rural India (VoRI) is an effort to turn this unprecedented crisis into an opportunity to create alternate livelihoods by upgrading digital skills in rural India, while also preserving grassroots knowledge that is slowly disappearing. Our not-for-profit digital initiative hopes to revolutionise storytelling by hosting curated stories by rural storytellers—in written, photo or video format, directly by local storytellers.
The conversation about VoRI began sometime in May when the scale and intensity of COVID-19 were finally sinking in, and the impact of the pandemic-induced lockdown on tourism was becoming evident. It gradually became obvious that tourism is unlikely to recover in the foreseeable future (in advance of a vaccine) and that despite the loss of livelihoods, rural communities are choosing to remain closed to the outside world. In rural parts of India, the lack of digital skills and tailored opportunities continue to be a challenge to scout for new opportunities. This context sparked the idea of Voices of Rural India.
2. How do you choose and curate these stories?
We have partnered with community-based tourism organisations across India—like Global Himalayan Expedition, Himalayan Ecotourism, Himalayan Ark, Grassroutes Journeys, and Spiti Ecosphere—who have already been invested in the local community over the past years. The storytellers are typically guides, homestay hosts, people involved in tourism, and youth and women from the community. The organisations help identify these storytellers and brainstorm ideas. Our team and virtual volunteer network help hone these into interesting storylines. The first draft is developed by the storytellers and the process of feedback continues until the story is ready for translation, editing and publishing. We carry both, the edited English version and the original version.
3. How can one be a part of this initiative?
Besides reading, commenting on and sharing stories from various rural storytellers, readers can choose to volunteer to help with the storytelling process. We’re currently open for volunteers with editing, social media and SEO expertise. We’re also looking for creative volunteers to help develop training material that can be disseminated in a fun and engaging manner over WhatsApp or in a socially-distanced way. Readers can also contribute to our crowdfunding campaign to support us in publishing more stories.
4. In an age where people of rural backgrounds are unfortunately exploited, how do you win their trust to share tales with you?
View this post on Instagram
It is exactly this context that VoRI aspires to challenge. Typically, urban people like you and I would travel to a rural landscape, seek out stories of rural life and share them in the digital space. Unfortunately, the people whose stories these are, neither end up owning them nor get access to any opportunities related to digital storytelling. We hope to revolutionise digital storytelling by enabling rural communities to share their stories in their own voices and build an identity in the digital space. For each story accepted for publishing, VoRI pays a fee of INR 1,000 to the storyteller. For more contributions, the same storyteller gets paid INR 1,500 for the second story and INR 2,000 from the third story onwards. The goal is to develop skills to be able to tell text-based and audio-visual stories in the digital medium, while also having easy access to paid digital opportunities.
5. Digital storytelling is still in its infancy stage in India. How do you combat this hurdle?
View this post on Instagram
While people in most communities have shown interest and passion towards this new form of storytelling, it has also been an effort-intensive and time-consuming process for many. The learning curve is fairly steep, but many storytellers have already come back with a new set of story ideas! Partnering with organisations that have been deeply invested in the community and already built meaningful relationships has been extremely helpful in working around these challenges.
6. When translating local languages in English, how do you ensure the authenticity or essence of the original language is not lost?
View this post on Instagram
While we aspire to bring the raw, original voice of the storyteller to this platform, we also have to balance the interest and attention of the average reader. Editing is never easy, but it’s especially challenging on VoRI! We’re constantly learning how to balance the essence of the original voice with translation and editing that grabs the average urban reader’s attention, with support from our partner organisations and our translation volunteers. We’re still figuring out how best to curate the website so that it is not only accessible to the average urban reader but also to the communities that own the stories we share.
7. Of the stories or ‘voices’, you’ve shared so far, which one is your favourite and why?
View this post on Instagram
It’s hard to pick one. Here are some of my favourites:
- Cherring Norbu, an amchi (traditional medicine practitioner) from Demul village in Spiti (Himachal Pradesh), shares the unsolved mystery of a monk who vowed to always protect the mountain village of Giu 550 years ago. His hair, nails and blood are evidence that he still does!
- Neha Mehta, a Hindi student from Bihar village in Tirthan Valley (Himachal Pradesh), shares the fascinating story of a local festival in which men wear clothes of grass and yell abuses to provoke bad spirits.
- Trilok Singh Rana, a guide from Shankhdhura village in Uttarakhand, visually documents the disappearing art of likhai—or the carving wood from old walnut trees—once found on windows or door frames across the Kumaon region.
8. What do the volunteers and collaborators of VoRI have to say about this initiative?
View this post on Instagram
- Sharada Kerkar, volunteer team member, Voices of Rural India: “As a student of rural development, for me, VoRI is no less than enrolment in a mini online university to learn about building a social enterprise, co-creating with communities, and implementing a bottom-up approach to programmes.”
- Paras Loomba, Founder, Global Himalayan Expedition: “Asking people from the community to share their stories in their own words and style is bringing out hidden tales from the far reaches such as Ladakh, that perhaps could never have been heard by most of us.”
- Malika Virdi, co-founder, VoRI: “Working with the VoRI platform compels me to listen more keenly to the voices from rural communities, and in the listening, affirm each storyteller such that she feels the power of her voice. They are at the centre of this unfolding story.”
- Osama Manzar, co-founder, VoRI: “Rural India has a deep culture and heritage, which has so far been shared by visitors going to the hinterland. However, because of COVID-19, there has been a complete disconnect between rural storytellers and those who live far away. VoRI is a means to bring these stories to the digital medium, while also creating alternate livelihood opportunities in these difficult times of COVID-19 and the lockdown.”
Related: Meet Travel Blogger Shivya Nath: India’s Very Own Shooting Star
Bayar Jain
Senior Content Manager
Equipped with a degree in Sociology (Honours) from the University of Delhi, and a post graduate diploma in English Journalism and Mass Communication from Xavier Institute of Communications, Mumbai, Bayar enjoys sharing stories of people, places, and different cultures. When not typing her travel tales, you can catch the hobbyist photographer capturing the next frame, dabbling in arts and crafts, or gushing over puppers and kittens.
Most popular
Most popular
