The Beginning Story
My name is Jashodhara Sen, and I am the researcher and caretaker of this story repository. I wanted to share a bit about myself and the inspiration for the project. Although I conceived the project to apply for a grant at the University of Colorado Boulder, the inspiration behind it is my late grandmother, Ms. Aruna Sen. My grandmother carried history in her stories. Each time she shared an account of her life, she was not just recounting memories; she was performing them. Her immigration journey from Burma to India was stitched into our family’s imagination through anecdotes of displacement, resilience, and reinvention. Those stories passed down with care and emotion, planted the seed of my commitment to theatre and digital storytelling.
In 2017, I was an immigrant student in the United States. I found an opportunity to translate personal anecdotes into performative storytelling. This allowed me to start a collective archive. This archive provides a space for recounting memories in the most authentic and honest way. It enables South Asian women to reclaim visibility, authority, and connection in a culture that often renders them voiceless.