Friday, October 20, 2006

My dear Anandi Akka

This post is dedicated to Anandi Akka who I consider to a stalwart in the art of story telling. To start this post I need to go back a few years of my time in earth.

As a kid what fascinates and amazed you the most is stories. Stories that you hear from Grandma, your grandpa...I don't remember my amma and appa (mother and father) telling me stories. Generally it will start with "Oru oorule oru Raja Irunthanam" ( Tamil ---> roughly translated in English --> There used to a king in a land far away) and it used to go on.

Once a year there used to a gala when many of our families will meet. My cousins will come from faraway places to our home to spend their holidays. I used to eagerly wait for those days, since we could play together. Anandi akka also used to come. I tell you all, she is the best story teller I have ever heard. In the art of story telling she is the God, all others are below her, if not in the list at all. She is an avid reader of book especially tamil, loads of history stuff, about the Kings and Queens that ruled the state of Tamilnadu.

During evening, we all used to sit around her, pin drop silence, full of attention ( Trust me, it is very difficult to keep some 10 monkeys quiet especially when electricity is not available). For Anandi akka that was a simple task. She will start her stories, weaving character after character, taking us as a live spectator in this imaginary world of stories...we all used to listen and enjoy the stories. Sometimes it is very difficult when you have to answer the call of nature during these story sessions. What if i miss some important part while attending nature's call....So we used to take Anandi akka's promise not to tell further before we are back.

Soon the holidays will be over and we will miss these story sessions. We will wait for the next holidays to hear these amazing stories. Thank you anandi akka for all these wonderful story sessions and the amazing memories attached to it.

Now I understand the importance of such stories...gives you imagination, hope, happiness..the list is endless.

(PS : Akka is a tamil word for elder sister)

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