Who doesn’t love a bed time story? I bet if you have ten tiny fingers and wiggly little toes reaching for your bosom`s warmth, you would have brushed up on all your Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland tales. Parents love to obsess about their child right from the moment the doctor says the stork is going to be at their doorstep. Most expecting couples plan out the whole life of the little one snuggling in the mother`s womb even before it has, literally, put a foot in this world.
One box that we all have to tick, to be a cool dad or an amazing mom, is to be an amazing story teller. Kids love it when you read about the fantastic journey of their favorite characters through trials and triumphs alike. Chances are, that you end up reading the same story to your child for a week or more. That’s the only way the cute munchkin will go to sleep. Once awake, your little one will impersonate his or her favorite character and prance about the house. There may be many Cinderellas and Rapunzels and Alices in your neighborhood. You may even come across a Peter Pan or a Pinocchio now and then.
These are all great characters, written by venerated authors and penned by writers who wield cult status in the literary universe. I have heard all these stories in my childhood, recited them at school functions andplayed with a Pinocchio doll too. But somehow, I could never completely identify with them. Then, as I grew up, I saw the Ramayana telecast on Doordarshan. It just took my breath away. I could not wait for Shri Ram to finish off the evil Ravan. We used to fight among friends using a mock ‘gada’. Hanuman was my first superhero. He could do the unthinkable – cross never ending seas, change size at will and burn down an entire palace using only his tail. Awesome!!!
I started reading Indian mythological comics in a library nearby. Tales of the pompous Indra, the breathtakingly beautiful apsaras Menaka and Urvashi, the ascetic Mahadev, the wizardly sages Vishvamitra and Parshuram… I scooped it all up. Then, Mahabharata came along on the telly. I was in my teens by then. So, I could understand the nuances in each subplot of the Mahakavya. I realized that not everyone in this world can be put into neat little boxes labelled Good and Bad. How could you classify Bheeshma Pitamah, I asked myself? Was he the most righteous warrior ever to be born in Aryavrata? He lived by a code and adhered to an excruciating Pratigya no one else could even contemplate. Or was he a stubborn old man who believed that abiding by his vow was nobler than the violation of his own daughter in law in the Kuru Mahasabha? I knew then, that there were no perfect answers to my questions. All there was, for certain, was a grey area. Not dark as black, neither clear as white. I had to draw my own conclusions.
I have looked out for Indian mythological stories, narratives and depictions of idolized characters wherever I can find them. I have even searched for folk tales about some evil villains of yore. These ancient Indian scriptures have been written in Sanskrit – the mother of all Devanagri languages, in an allegoric and poetic form. Then they have been translated in multiple languages by various scholars at different times in history. Many stories have been passed on through generations by word of mouth. This fact in itself, lends the entire literary work open to multiple interpretations.
Anand Neelankantan for one, has a diametrically opposite view than that which is popularly believed to be true for the Ramayana, as narrated by him in his book, `Asura`. Christopher Doyle has a new take on the meaning of the shlokas of the Mahabharata, which he explores in `The Mahabharata Secret`. `Jaya` and `My Gita` are the essence of what Devdutt Patnaik gleaned through the study of this body of work. `Yajnaseni` by Pratibha Ray lends a voice to the injustice meted out to probably the strongest willed woman of ancient Indian literature – Draupadi.
These great stories fawn a myriad of emotions in each one who reads them. To some, they provide amazement and wonder. To others, they show the true purpose of their lives. For me, the Ramayana and Mahabharata are the best foundations on which to build a meaningful life in this avatar.
I believe that snippets from these Indian epics are the best fairy tales my child could ever hear. Not only are they magical stories of a magnificent bygone era of superheroes and super villains, but more importantly, are rooted in our own culture. Narrating an Indian mythological tale to my kid would inherently teach him about our age old traditions, family values and social beliefs. I could imbibe in my child, a deep respect for the Divine Trinity of Brahma Vishnu Mahesh in the simplest and the most fun way of learning. Deep down, I believe, by passing on the tales of the Ramayana and Mahabharata to the next generation, I would be fulfilling a sacred duty towards my ancestors.
Given a choice between a Pinocchio doll and Hanuman`s `gada`, I know what I would pick. Do you?
Tarkash 