![]() One day I received a call from my colleague Poonam Saxena, who asked me to write the cover story for the upcoming issue of her magazine. It was very tough for us there because whenever we reached a new place, we always used to look out for a story idea, internet connectivity to send across that story, and food - in that order. "I remember I was in Kashmir and covering state elections there. It was during these travels that he realised storytelling is perhaps his true calling. His journalistic assignments took him to remote corners of the country, reporting on terrorism, drought, insurgency, floods etc. Neelesh Misra on his various storytelling journeys. It was a far removed world compared to where I came from," he says talking about his early career as a reporter. Then, after coming to Delhi it was the first time I saw big roads, public buses crammed with people…There was no sanctity of touch, no sense of space. The small town and its small town-ness gave me a lot to go with. I think I somehow inculcated both growing up in Nainital. Two of the greatest qualities of becoming a good journalist are to be a good observer and a good listener. I haven’t read a lot of books but I’ve met a lot of people. "I don’t think I have a lot of knowledge, but I have a lot of experience. Since then, life has offered several revelations and surprises. The band launched in 2010 as a result of "a sheer series of good accidents", as Misra puts it, that led him to the mic and an audience. A few years later, he also started working as a lyricist with Band Called Nine, which had singer Shilpa Rao and composer Amartya Rahut as Misra's partners. He shifted to Delhi, pursuing journalism as a full-time career. Misra was born in Lucknow and was raised in Nainital. Misra is at the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival 2019, to talk about (among other things) his latest book Storywallah. He is an award-winning journalist, formerly deputy executive editor of a leading daily, and South Asia correspondent for The Associated Press. He has written five books, and lyrics for over 30 Hindi films. He is also the founder of Gaon Connection, India’s biggest rural media platform. Neelesh Misra is one of India’s most-loved oral storytellers, reaching more than 100 million people every week across radio and digital platforms. Today while we may have a plethora of stories (and formats to narrate/experience them in), there is a dearth of compelling storytellers. From non-verbal to verbal written to pictorial or graphic - stories have passed on from one generation to another in several forms. ![]() In India, the art of storytelling dates back centuries. ![]()
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