childhood memories

One of my fondest childhood memories is one where I snuggle next to my Mammimma (grandaunt) and listen to her tell me the same story every night during our stays with her in the summer breaks. We slept in a large room where all the ladies and children of the house slept. Four beds lie parallel to each wall and in the middle a large rug was spread out for all the kids.

Every night I listened to the same story. It wasn’t because it was the only story she knew, but because it was the only one I wanted to listen to. “Puniyagoti”the story of a brave mommy cow who was willing to lay down her life to save her naughty little one from a hungry lion. It’s a happy ending of course, like most non-traumatizing children’s stories. I knew what’s going to happen next, every single time, but I think a little part of me waited with bated breath to see if the story takes a detour at any point.

Two summer back my cousins came over to stay with us, the story telling duty fell upon on my shoulders. With my little cousin sister on my side, I relived my childhood with Puniyagoti and Cinderella. Cinderella is her favourite story. She never tires of it. Her eyes go wide in amazement as I describe how Cinderella’s tattered clothes change into a beautiful gown and her feet are covered in glass sandals. While listening my sister has sooo many questions. Questions adults would never bother asking, like which colour was the gown? And why did she leave her nice slipper there? And why why why…

That’s the power of a good story. It sucks you in and makes you inhabit its little universe for the short while that you are with it. A good story stays in your heart, long after its told or read or lived. What I wouldn’t do for a good story! If you ask me what my heart really longs for, what I want to do for the rest of my life, the first answer that comes to my mind is- Tell stories. Short stories, long stories, personal stories, moving stories, funny stories. True stories. And there are a million stories, living and breathing, walking around us at each point. From dad’s childhood escapades to the neighbor’s love story to the friend’s tragedy. There’s never a shortage of good stories as long as you have the patience to gently tease them out.

And we need these stories. Not to temporarily distract us, but to connect us with those around us. I may know nothing about a person, but if I have lived in his story, even for a few minutes, I will care more deeply about him. And right now the world needs more people to care about each other. We need people to care for our poor, our refugees, our abused, our downtrodden. Listening to their stories is the first step in that direction.