Meet Vinay Varanasi, the modern storyteller

Vinay Varanasi wants to create a platform for collective learning of mythological stories

One has heard these stories many times, the sketchy outlines of which are part of our vast remembered repertoire of mythology. But something compels you to listen when this young man tells the stories of Ganesha and Chandra, Kali or Sita. He tells the tales casually, in English, and it’s like seeing them come alive through a fresh pair of eyes.

Meet 29-year-old Vinay Varanasi from Bengaluru, who straddles many worlds with aplomb. He is an architect and design researcher by profession (he’s the co-founder of Unbind, a design education startup), a classical music lyricist, a painter, and a storyteller. Although these look like different compartments, he believes one thing flows into another, working to his advantage.

Recently, he completed the fifth session of an immersive storytelling series, ‘The Goddess: Six Fold’, hosted by the Chennai-based cultural platform Aalaap, with whom he collaborated to tell stories of six goddesses. “I was careful to choose goddesses that have a negative representation in patriarchal retellings. Sita, Radha, Kali...,” says Vinay. This series also helped him realise that people are seeking sincere answers.