Its been 50 weeks since I am writing stories. Some might have made sense or other might be too kiddish or too mature.
Lets take a small tour in a human’s life for the impact of stories.
When I was small. Actually small in indefinite past tense. Thus when I was of age 5 to 10, there was a telecast of serial on Indian Television called SHAKTIMAAN. Yes I have told you about Shaktimaan in previous stories too. (Quick Flash Back: He was Indian Super Hero who could spin and fly, use natural resources and 5 elements of nature form which he and all living creatures are believed to be created and Fight Evil People like every other superhero I came to know afterwards).
But when I was small, And this story was told to me, I actually believed the Superhero is real. There might be several factors for it.
1) It was TV serial. Thus it was on Picture/ Photographic proof. And since the concept of Photoshop or graphics was unknown to me The thing which I saw I assumed to be real.
2) The concept was he was created by 5 elements of nature. And most of Indian mythology also supports the 5 elements theories. Thus I assumed the superhero to be real.
3) He was a good man and fighting evil. Just like a JUST person dose. Thus I assume him to be real.
4) He did not achieve his power by accidents, he did years of “TAPASAYA” i.e Yoga + Spiritual awakening and got the powers. Thus the concept or possibility or hope of “every man achieving his dream by handwork and persistence,” made me believe he was real.
5) When I talked with other kids of my age. EVEN they believed in him. Thus it gave me more confidence that what I believe is true.
There are much more factors but I think you got my point….
I was so influenced by the serial that even I believed that with handwork and persistence, with yoga and spiritual energy, one day Even I can become a Shaktimaan.
I started fighting with elders, spiritual teachers, and even with people which have never ever heard of Shaktimaan, to teach me how to become one. I was so desperate to learn to become shaktimaan that I followed everything he did to have those powers.
I started learning Meditation. I started reading books on awakening of spiritual energy. I started performing yoga. And the funny thing is I was not alone. Thus there was a pressure of competition that I want to become Shaktimann Before everyone else dose.
After some years the story writers and producers of Shaktimaan were shocked on what Impact the presentation has done among the kids. Unlike me there were kids going to extremes to prove their believes are true. Kids, definitely smaller than the age of understanding that i had that time, started climbing roof tops of multi story buildings and shouted “SAVE ME SHAKTIMAAN”
Some went more steps further and JUMPED form the room in the hope that Shaktimaan will save them.
Unfortunately either their hope was not strong or Shaktimaan never existed to save them. Many kids were injured and some lost their life.
The producers of Shakitmaan faced the wrath of parents whose kids were killed because of such a concept. Media started awareness programs. Then The producers had to take an action which was never done before in the history of Kids Series making. They showed an episode called “THE MAKING OF SHAKTIMAAN”
Introduced everyone with Graphic Designing team, The actors, the telecasters and the cameraman. They showed to kids how shaktimaan is made and its for entertainment purpose only. This shattered the dreams of 1000’s and 1000’s of kids. The believe or faith in Shaktimaan was lost. Many followers stopped watching Shaktimaan for ever. But some Iditios like me still continued. But the dream of Becoming Shaktimaan one day has torn into pieces.
I count believe that something GOOD as shaktimaan can cause so much damage. People are committing suicidal jump or following a path which was leading to meeting or becoming shaktimaan before and now leading to nowhere. I was now ashamed to talk with all the people with whom I was fighting that Shaktimaan was real and Please teach me how to become one. When I tell this story to my friends that I was a Shakitmaan believer once, they laugh out a loud.
The serial producers accepted their responsibility and with the kids trusting shaktimaan and the only person they listened to, They introduced a segment in their series that taught kids “GOOD HABITS” Buts that not important for my story today.
Though lengthy and thanks that you are still continuing to read it…let me tell you the main reason of writing today. Stories Change people. They change how people think about any particular topic/ person/ thing/ place/ religion/ community.
Change the story and the perception of target can be changed. A good person can become evil and and evil can become GOD. Its just the matter of how responsible you act to tell a story to your future known.
Telling all good points about someone and hiding all negative can make him seem a good person. Telling all negative points about someone and hiding the positive one makes him seem an evil person. But telling all points you know about the person to your story listener makes the listener an responsible person to take his judgement to self evaluate he/she is good or evil person.
It all depends on what you teach and what they perceive to learn. If teaching about Shaktimaan still continued then Probably people still believed in him and side by side learned some good points like meditation, yoga and self stability, with a slight side-effect that kids committing suicide or fighting or killings in the Name or shakitmaan. But let me get a step ahead that what I am permitted to..
People even do this today. I believed in shakitimaan and fought for him because of the stories which were told to me, I believed he was real. In Today’s scenario, Even after growing up, people follow the stories that they have been told to as real and still follow the figure, person, character or energy form calling it GOD and are still fighting with others saying what they believe is the truth. Exactly like how I did in the past. But everyone takes time to learn their lesson and makes decisions according to their understanding. I am just a story teller and I will continue doing my job.
Thank you for reading to my views and I believe you will be as good story teller and Create a Positive Impact Like Shaktimaan and I DID…ha ha
Happy Week Ahead 🙂
#tapishdongre #utsp
Tapish Dongre 