Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Living the tale

It was a dreary evening filled with the torture of routine tasks and all she needed was somone to hand her a warm cup of something nice and ask her about her day... High hopes! Most times, all a woman gets is demands of varying degrees from people who vary in their degree of importance.

But this evening one very important person was making a really important demand that could not be refuted " amma... tell me a story" "just what I need" she thought and hugged little Chinnu and made her sit on the kitchen counter (while strategically mixing her bowl of vegetables and rice hoping she could trick her into eating it with the story)

"Long long ago..." she started as the little one's eyes widened with eager expectation "There was a king who had a very pretty daughter" "why was she pretty amma?" Interrupted Chinnu, "Chinnu... not important. Just listen" said the mother, rather befuddled by the response. "The king loved her very dearly but never allowed her to step out of the palace. The king would only permit her to go out if he were taking her on his royal elephant. The only other way she could see the world outside was through the window of her mother's room" by now the little one was already beginning to dislike the king "One day as she sat looking out of the window, she saw a young boy playing with a small dog... can you believe the princess had never seen a dog all her life? She could see that he was having so much fun - it could be heard." "But..." Chinnu attempted to say something but was silenced by the sharp look she got from her mother as she stuffed her mouth with stuff from the bowl "the princess began to feel jealous of the boy who could play with his friend and all she could do was sit and watch him from the window. So she picked up a few pebbles from one of the plants in the queen's room and started throwing it on the boy and his friend" "oh no! did the dog get angry and bite her?, but how can that happen? She's in the palace and the dog is on the road." Chinnu questioned and answered her questions all in one breath. The mother smiled and continued "No... infact the boy kept saving the dog from being hit by letting the pebbles hit him instead of his pet. Now this confused the princess a lot. Why would anyone do that? Get hurt for someone else that is not important? She then decided to find out..."
"and then Chinnu came flying to the princess in Alladin's magic carpet and took her out of the palace so she could know that it is okay to go out of the palace to find friends like the boy and the dog... and they all lived happily ever after!"

"And there she was living in the story I was telling - living the story I was telling" she thought to herself. "Yes! How did you know?" She asked and Chinnu ran out to play. The mother smiled as she went about the routine ; forgetting that yet another of her stories was interrupted and left incomplete.

1 comment:

Rajaram said...

Beautiful! I lived the tale reading it!