Indian storyteller rivets crowd

Although Ritu Verma has already taken India by storm at the young age of 18, she remains a virtual unknown in the United States. But Tuesday night she brought her art form, called pandavani, to the University, thanks to the South Asia Regional Studies Department. Pandavani is a storytelling form native to the central region of India that Verma hails from. While Verma does not speak English and cannot read or write in any language, she has traveled the world, visiting countries such as Great Britain, Japan and Germany. "Everyone I spoke to [while visiting India] told me I had to hear Ritu Verma, the new rising star," said Joyce Flueckiger, an Emory University professor who addressed the crowd of more than 100 in Meyerson Hall before Verma's performance. Pandavani consists of a singer-storyteller, such as Verma, accompanied by instrumentalists and a ragi, who plays an instrument and acts as a respondent to the storyteller, asking questions and making comments in a comical style. The storyteller, who performs the entire show on her knees, also demonstrates certain actions through extravagant gestures and the use of a tambura, a single-stringed instrument decorated with flowers and feathers. While pandavani is traditionally dominated by male performers, women have an unusually high status in Verma's central Indian home. "[Verma] performs in a cultural context in which women are highly visible," Flueckiger said. The performance, which was given entirely in a Hindi dialect, comprised a complex medley of sounds, as Verma alternated between sultry, smooth singing and forceful, rapid speaking. A combination of four instruments highlighted Verma's storytelling. The first of the instruments, played by Arun Chakradhari, was an Indian banjo, an instrument that resembles a lap guitar. Udai Gandharva, who also served as the ragi, played a harmonium, an instrument similar to an accordion. Ritu's 63-year-old father, Lakhanlal Verma, played a set of wooden kartals, a rectangular form of tambourines. And Bhim Verma played the tabla, a set of drums similar to bongo drums. For the members of the audience not familiar with Hindi, Anjana Puri, Ritu's interpreter, provided English translations about the stories Ritu told and a description of the pandavani style. Ritu's stories were all memorized from listening to other performers -- none of the stories is written down. "Pandavani seems to represent India's ethnic roots," Flueckiger explained.