By Mehru Jaffer

This is no fabrication but a fact that David Alexander does little else in life except tell tales. The 53 year old former school teacher has been travelling far and wide mesmerising many with the magical art of story telling.

Like the wandering minstrel of yester years David returned to Java last month to liven up the holiday season especially at school campuses. David is, in fact, no stranger here as he taught at the Jakarta International School (JIS) for nine years before he decided to take his stories to the road. Six years ago he swapped the teaching profession for even a more enjoyable way of helping children to open wide the gate of their imagination and to get messages across to them in a more delightful way.

Meghna Alladi,17 of JIS who recalls listening to David many years ago while she was still in elementary school says that his enthusiasm is really infectious. She loves both listening and reading stories as each one gives her a vicarious thrill of being someone different and in a place she can never dream of experiencing in one life time.

Human beings have been enjoying stories since times forgotten. From the hunter returning to the cave not just with food but also with colourful accounts of the adventure that went into gathering the meal to present day features found in books, radio and cinema, people are always so hungry for stories. That is because the ultimate tale of the truth about who we are and why we are here still remains to be told. And till that happens the people of this world will continue to be divided up into story tellers, and those seated cross legged forever eager to listen to yet another tale of love, hate, betrayal and bravery.

A good story is described as a warm hug connecting one human being with another. Ancient as the art of oral story telling is, the modern world moans its dearth. Once upon a time people sat together in the home, knew the name of their neighbours, visited each other and exchanged information at street corners all the time. By knowing each other's story they did not fear the
other and trusted one another more. However the world today prides itself on keeping its stories to itself. There is little time to waste on either talking about one's self or listening to thers. All activities that do not generate immediate cash are considered worthless. Instead life is lived on the fast track on instant fast food, and shopping is on-line. The soul in the meanwhile is left to starve for a more human to human contact. In this day and age many from the older generation have few to talk to so they talk to themselves as more and more fire-places grow cobwebs and gardens put up the "trespassers will be prosecuted" placard.

While still in Jakarta David's family of two daughters seemed to be falling apart. The family decided to return home to the USA six years ago. Despite trying to gather around a fire-place and spending more time with each other David was eventually separated from his wife. With the children grownup, David visited the Storytelling Foundation International where he discovered that out of the 50 participants at the annual conference 15 were making a living out of telling stories. He was inspired to do the same and began to collect not fairy tales but stories from his
own experiences in life.

Today he specialises in telling real life stories about the day he got married, or his first day in school. When he is invited to a home for retired folks he changes the storyline to something of interest to older people. He is happiest when he is thanked for coming by just to talk to people who may not have had visitors in a long time. Just as he is full of admiration for a world that
>affords him the luxury of travelling to different corners of the globe with such speed and allows him to make a living out of something that he does not even consider work, he is also critical of the way more and more people prefer to hobnob with machines rather than with each other.

"Today more than ever before we need stories so that we can learn more about who we are," David told The Post. He believes that a good story teller is one who is also a good listener and misunderstandings multiply amongst mankind as more people refuse to listen or talk to others, he feels as he discusses the power of myth that is able to make people indulge in both terrible and noble deeds. Apart from entertaining audiences he cherishes the thought that he is actually practising a very important community activity.

Just the hope that he may be healing, breaking down barriers or building bridges amongst people, especially children is why he wants to continue telling stories for the rest of his life.

-----Mehru Jaffer

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