Afsana
The Somaiya Storytelling Festival
30th - 31st Jan 2026
The element of the live connect with a storyteller who can deep dive the audience to a world woven with a web of ideas and enchantments is Afsana: The Somaiya Storytelling Festival. In its third chapter, involving myths, folklore, inspirational tales, bardic traditions, corporate storytelling and so much more, the festival is home to stories galore.
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Bindu: Centered Metaphors
The theme for 2026 is ‘Bindu: Centered Metaphors’ and the focus is on Central India. In every ideational understanding there always is a center and the margin. The center is inundated by the weight of norms. It is then that the things begin to avalanche into the margins. The festival tries to understand what constitutes a center and what gets relegated to the margins. What does it mean to be at the helm of affairs and what in the lack thereof? How does India hold its centrality within itself and to the outside world? Questions arise and become rhetorics; while centers keep shifting...
The Power of Stories
The closest association we have with words that have soothed us since childhood is, a story. Alphabets are learnt at a later stage, stories remain centerstage from pre-natal days to any age. Stories, narratives, expressions of varied forms have enthralled listeners and mesmerized them. From the beginning of laying the background and the setting to the introduction of characters, their dilemmas or surprises, stories effortlessly captivate. The dialogues are an exercise in understanding the human condition and how we have evolved as a civilization.
Meaning & Focus of Afsana
Afsana is Urdu and Persian for tale, fable or story. Each year the festival focusses on a state and its cultural traditions. Being regaled by regional and international tellers to two days of non-stop extravaganza is what Afsana is all about. From stories, performances to workshops, it is an exuberance of stories in multiple formats.
The focus in Afsana 2026 will be on the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
