Millburn Students Share Stories, Culture, Heritage On Website

MILLBURN, NJ - Gods, legends, myths and anecdotes surrounding South Asian culture and tradition has been dramatized into short story form with narration and art by Millburn students Vikram and Nikhita Mahendru on their website StoryChatter.

The brother and sister have created what they describe as a collection of short, visually engaging videos, created to connect South Asian children with their culture and heritage. To date, the duo has produced, narrated, and edited 60+ short stories after coming across the unmet need for an engaging medium for South Asian children.

Vikram, a junior at Millburn High School, and Nikhita, a freshman at Duke University, developed short and concise scripts along with voiceovers for each of the published stories on Indian festivals, myths and Gods after extensive research on the web. Additionally, the siblings said they brought the stories to life with vibrant animations––to captivate the interest of children.

"When I was a child, I would sit on my grandmother’s lap everyday and listen as she recounted famous Indian myths and stories. As arrows flew, monkeys soared, mountains ascended, my imagination drifted all-day. Indeed, sitting on her lap, an 8-year-old, I was developing a pride for my culture," Vikram Mahendru said.

He said after his grandmother returned to India, he found himself more immersed and more familiar with other cultures that were not his own.

"This is a common trend, a disastrous pattern among Indian-American children. Oftentimes, so caught up in assimilating into American culture, we lose the connection with our own ancestors," he said. "I sought to replicate my experience,of sitting on grandmother’s lap, listening to stories, day-dreaming, for countless Indian-Americans, to tie them back to their culture which gets oftentimes gets lost growing up in America."

The site consists of around 100, short, funny, animated videos which discuss Indian festivals and religions as well as historical figures and myths. There is a special subset of stories called “panchatantra” stories which revive old fables told in around 300 BCE, in the structure of talking animals.

"All of the information is presented as if an older sister is talking to her excited brother as they tour around India," Mahendru said. "We wanted to mimic the experience having a someone close to the children talking to them-- like how my grandmother told me the stories. We chose this structure to keep it fun, relatable, and engaging."

The process begins with Vikram and Nikhita researching the topics that they found were most interesting since we thought that would translate well on video and capture the interest of students their age.

"We also understood the necessity of creating stories about figures key to Indian history, so we were sure to incorporate that along with Indian Mythology. My sister and I then create the scripts in a 'back and forth' structure, in the same way that we discuss the information within the videos, so it’s all very genuine," Vikram Mahendru said. "We did this ourselves because in essence we are targeting people very similar to us. Our platform targets Indian-American children, so what better voice to broadcast than that of an Indian-American child."

The narration is recorded and paired with animation done by a team based in India.

"I decided to use a team from India because we really wanted people who grew up, and know the culture best, and can manifest their pride within their visualization," he said.

Not content with just educating and inspiring, the siblings added a subscription component to StoryChatter, designating the proceeds for charity.

"Our subscription revenue goes towards one less fortunate child gaining the education that everyone rightfully deserves. So far we’ve funded STEM Education for underprivileged kids in New Jersey, education for homeless orphans in Noida India, and relief for victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy in India," Mahendru said. " We decided most profits would be dedicated toward giving back to the country that gave us the stories to tell as well as ensuring the impact in our immediate community, New Jersey, also extended to underserved populations."

Mahendru said the hope for StoryChatter is three-fold.

"We hope that it connects Indian-Americans back to their heritage. As we grow up, we often focus too much on assimilating and lose sight of our culture and ancestors. We seek to bridge this gap between one’s history and their future. Secondly, as we give Indian-Americans an education about India, we also seek to provide underserved populations a proper education about the world in general. We want to harness the power of the videos and company we have established to create impactful positive change in the world," he said. "Lastly, we want people to see India in a different light. I’ve found, that as Indian-American children forget about the rich history of India, the west as a whole does too. Oftentimes the narrative about India becomes one of sorrow or tragedy, but that is not accurate. Too easily the rich heritage, vibrant life, fantastical stories of India is obscured. We also seek to alter the narrative to reflect rich Indian culture, and accurately portray the land we know to be so joyful, lively and animated."

Those interested in supporting StoryChatter can like their Facebook page as well as visit their website, download the app from IOS App Store or email vikram.r.mahendru@gmail.com.

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