After training as a dastngo - Urdu style of Storytelling, I have been performing, training and educating people about storytelling.

I also am now learning Hudku: Kumaon style of storytelling.

My tryst with storytelling started in an unstructured manner when as a young student of Kathak, all of the age of 12, I was told to develop a story around a piece of western music by My Guru Mai – Jyoti Di. What I came up with, not only got me an A + in the exam but also got immense recognition for me as a Storyteller and I was told I am a “Katha – Kaar” more than a kathak dancer. 

But then, the ways of life took over and I breezed into my 12th boards, where I met a teacher called Vakeel Sir, who introduced me to sketching and then in my life I started to visualize stories in a way of what you call “ Graphic Novels “ now. This was way back in 1986.

But my parents told me you cant make money by being an artist and so I became a photojournalist for The Times of India : Allahabad. This was in 1991. It was a freelance job which I still pursue now and then. I parally pursued my MBA to buy more butter for my bread. And then my husband took me to the door
steps of NID and my destiny changed as I entered into THE design school.

I was introduced to many kinds of art, artists and storytellers from all over the world and as I worked towards being an innovation professional, ethnography and design research had more than one meaning for me. They were not just innovation tools but also a medium to explore stories in cultures and people’s lives.

Hence, if I would work with Vikaar – an NGO in Rajasthan , I would explore Phad and other storytelling cultures there. If I worked with a designer in Bangalore, I would explore KATHAKALAKSHEPA and so on. But I totally fell in love with the art of Urdu storytelling when I met Mahmood Farooqui and started learning “Dastangoi” from him. Infact, my journey, much later, into film making, was also an expression to learn deeper about popular storytelling medium like films, which took me to FTII and deep colorful lanes of Bollywood. Currently I am performing and learning dastangoi and Hudku.