Naani's Fairy Tales
Tales from History, Mythology and
Folklore
By
Hari Sud
Introduction
When I was five
years old, my mother moved to the town of Shimla in 1947, where my big brother,
nine years older than me, was studying in a school. My father had taken him to
Shimla as no suitable school existed in the village. My mother also wished me
to go to school, hence persuaded my father to take the whole family, including
my two older sisters (one older sister was already married) to Shimla. It
happened just a few months before the 1947 partition.
The family returned to the village every year
during the winter school vacations. My father had up-teen number of tasks to
perform around the house and I rarely saw him when he was in the village. In
his absence my big brother was the boss. My sisters lent my mother a hand in
the housework. There was plenty to do especially after shutting down the house
for a year. The same was the routine of my two uncles who had their houses next
to us. One more uncle with his family lived in the village and he kept the
contacts with the local people alive when the rest of the extended family was
away for a year.
One of these
contacts was an old lady, a Brahmin, whose husband was deceased and who lived
on the charity of more prosperous Suds/Soods. She came around to our group of
houses to help out my mother and aunties. I have no recollection of her name or
age but my recollection is that her face had the wrinkles of time and walked
with a hunch in her back, hence I would say she was very old. We (kids) of the
four households popularly called her "Naani". My mother and other
elders popularly called her " Kuale Aali Budhi" (the old lady
who lives next to the mountain path). Sometimes the Naani stayed overnight and
we kids gathered around her to hear a story or two. These stories helped us
fall asleep and my mother and my cousin's mothers loved her for taking care of
us, the free wheeling children. The stories she related were mostly the tales
of the great King Vikramaditya who ruled Malwa area of India, two thousand
years ago. At other times she related stories of Pandavas of Mahabharata legend
visiting Kangra area or the story of a lion chasing a cow and meeting his death
or the great warrior Gugga Kashatriya (Chattri) who died fighting the Muslim
horde eight hundred years back etc. These stories took us back in time and
delighted us with good moral of the story in the end. Naani had infinite store
of these stories in her head. Day after day she would relate a new story. Year
after year she would relate stories, which, either we had heard before but
liked these so much that we would hear it again, or a new story, which
delighted us all kids. At times I would see my parents and uncles and aunties
also quietly sitting down and listening to these tales. It was a fun time in
the simple life of a prosperous Sud village.
One can read
Vikramaditya stories in the monthly magazine "ChandaMama" but the
local stories, which the Naani related to us, have never been put to the pen.
Here I am relating these stories to you as I heard them. Without fail you would
detect a tinge of local Himachal culture in these stories. I may miss a point
or two, as I was only seven to twelve year old when I heard these stories, but
trust me that you would find them interesting. So here I begin
Hari Sud
Toronto
Dedicated
to the Old Naani of Pirsaluhi
who related
most of these stories
with good
moral values
and amused
the children
Stories
1. The
Raja and the Gaddi (Sheppard)
2. Ghost
at Vaidya Khui - Pragpur
3. Gugga
Chattri - Then, Now & Forever
4. The
Wicked Lion and the Cow
5. Guru
Gobind Singh at Nadaun
6. Abodes of
Shiva on this side
of
the River (Pandavas Visit Chamukha, Panj-tirathi & Kaleshawar)
7. Mail
Order Bride at Rolla, Missouri (USA)
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