Literature may have made popular stories that have enriched Kerala’s culture and shaped its current life over generations, but for visitors to the State, tourism always meant just a platter of exotic locales and cuisine. This is now due for a change with the storytelling tourism project treating travellers, looking for an experience of the culture and ethos of the land they visit, to the stories of the land that have stayed alive to become folklores.
Myths, life stories, agriculture, folk arts, and rituals will be presented as part of the programme and it will be an amalgamation of experiences, lives, myths and legends.
For Kerala Tourism, the State-owned Bekal Resorts Development Corporation (BRDC) is making the foray into the project in which the unwritten historical and cultural tales behind the places will be documented, collated and retold to the travellers.
“Initially, the little-known and unwritten historical tales behind Bekal will be collated to make the destinations and travel more attractive to the tourists. Later, Malabar will be covered,’’ BRDC managing director T.K. Manzoor told The Hindu.
“The idea is to make the destinations more appealing to the new-age tourists. Storytelling is a key component of experiential tourism,” he said.
The BRDC has worked out a roadmap for compiling and publishing the historical narratives and stories for the project. Workshops, seminars and community meets — nattukoottams — will be held along with special training for storytelling entrepreneurs.
As the first step, workshops will be organised among various experts from different fields such as writers and researchers. Storytelling entrepreneurs also will also be roped in. Community meets will be organised to discuss tales of the bygone era and historical records.
“We will kick off the project in Bekal in March and the storytelling will be in English. Already, there has been a small beginning to this with the BRDC’s ‘Smile’ storytelling entrepreneurs Mohan Narananthatta and G. Ambujakshan at Bekal Fort,” he added.
The dissertations prepared in the form of stories by experts will be made into books in English, Malayalam and later in other languages. A coffee table book is also being planned.
Mr. Mansoor said historical records and other remnants such as Muniyaras, Kudakkallu, Thoppikkallu, Surangas, Mukkuthi wells, ancient weapons, and coins, all of which are being lost to oblivion, would also be recorded.
