Story Telling

All my vacations were full of story-telling – especially my DAD telling me “Ramayana – Mahabharata”. On a rain swept day in Assam, when we kids could not do anything outside we would gather around him and he would start narrating these epics. The very thought takes me back 30 yrs and tells me to relive the days even if it’s only in my memory and between me and me.

Cut to present.....Grandpa’s have to change and innovate with time so we had “Ulta Pulta Ramayan” being narrated by my Father in Law. It’s a hilarious take on Ramayan where Sita goes willingly with Ravan and Ram had to really plead with Sita to come back. I joined for a while but then moved out so they could have their own cozy session.

Role reversal…For once Dad(that’s me) had more questions. After seeing Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets (Potter mania was intact even during vacation)I could not relate to a few facts which I picked up from part 3 and part 4 (all parts seem the same to me though) so Nikita recounted the journey of Harry from his childhood….it was a very similar to my story telling experience with my Dad except that it was a darkened room in Jaipur, while dust-storm played outside we (me and my daughters) switched off the light, put the fan in full speed and got into the world of magic…It was an afternoon I will remember for a long while.

As I took my customary walk in the evening on the terrace 2 thoughts struck me. One – Harry is on its way to be a part of folk lore, Two – Fathers and daughters will not be the same…This role reversal was unbelievable in my case.