Grandma's Bag of Stories Read online

  SUDHA MURTY

  GRANDMA’S BAG of STORIES

  Illustrations By Priya Kuriyan

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Contents

  The Beginning of the Stories

  ‘Doctor, Doctor’

  Kavery and the Thief

  Who Was the Happiest of Them All?

  The Enchanted Scorpions

  The Horse Trap

  A Treasure for Ramu

  The Donkey and the Stick

  ‘What’s in It for Me?’

  The Princess’s New Clothes

  The Story of Paan

  Payasam for a Bear

  Fire on the Beard

  The Way You Look at It

  Roopa’s Great Escape

  Five Spoons of Salt

  How the Seasons Got Their Share

  The Island of Statues

  The Kingdom of Fools

  The Story of Silk

  When Yama Called

  The Unending Story

  Follow Penguin

  Copyright

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  GRANDMA’S BAG OF STORIES

  Sudha Murty was born in 1950 in Shiggaon in north Karnataka. She did her MTech in computer science, and is now the chairperson of the Infosys Foundation. A prolific writer in English and Kannada, she has written novels, technical books, travelogues, collections of short stories and non-fictional pieces, and four books for children. Her books have been translated into all the major Indian languages. Sudha Murty was the recipient of the R.K. Narayan Award for Literature and the Padma Shri in 2006, and the Attimabbe Award from the government of Karnataka for excellence in Kannada literature in 2011.

  Author’s Note

  My grandmother, Krishnaa, popularly known as Krishtakka, was very bright and affectionate. She was also a great storyteller. She never gave us any sermons but taught the values of life through her stories. Those stories and values remain with me even now. I spent my childhood carefree, stress-free, with my cousins and grandparents at my hometown Shiggaon, a sleepy town in north Karnataka. We shared everything there, whatever we had, and that became a great bond among us cousins. The binding force was my grandmother.

  I made some changes when I wrote the stories in this book but mostly it is a true reflection of my childhood.

  When my granddaughter Krishnaa was born, she elevated me to the position of grandmother. I realized more than ever the importance of stories, and how much they help children to learn. Hence this book.

  I hope, with these stories, children and parents will understand the unique relationship between three generations and will continue to create bonds of love with one another and the older generations in their families.

  I would like to thank Penguin Books India, who are always eager to publish my work. I would also like to thank Sudeshna Shome Ghosh, who became a good friend apart from being my editor, in my journey of writing, in the last decade.

  Sudha Murty

  Bangalore

  Read more in Puffin

  The Magic Drum and Other Favourite Stories by Sudha Murty

  A princess who thinks she was a bird, a coconut that cost a thousand rupees, and a shepherd with a bag of words . . .

  Kings and misers, princes and paupers, wise men and foolish boys, the funniest and oddest men and women come alive in this sparkling new collection of stories. The clever princess will only marry the man who can ask her a question she cannot answer; the orphan boy outwits his greedy uncles with a bag of ash; and an old couple in distress is saved by a magic drum.

  Sudha Murty’s grandparents told her some of these stories when she was a child; others she heard from her friends from around the world. These delightful and timeless folk tales have been her favourites for years, and she has recounted them many times over to the young people in her life. With this collection, they will be enjoyed by many more readers, of all ages.

  Read more in Puffin

  How I Taught My Grandmother to Read and Other Stories by Sudha Murty

  What do you do when your grandmother asks you to teach her the alphabet?

  Or the President of India takes you on a train ride with him?

  Or your teacher gives you more marks than you deserve?

  These are just some of the questions you will find answered in this delightful collection of stories recounting real-life incidents from the life of Sudha Murty—teacher, social worker and bestselling writer. There is the engaging story about one of her students who frequently played truant from school. The account of how her mother’s advice to save money came in handy when she wanted to help her husband start a software company, and the heart-warming tale of the promise she made—and fulfilled—to her grandfather, to ensure that her little village library would always be well supplied with books.

  Funny, spirited and inspiring, each of these stories teaches a valuable lesson about the importance of doing what you believe is right and having the courage to realize your dreams.

  To Krishnaa, who has taken me back to my

  childhood memories, from Sudha Ajji

  The Beginning of the Stories

  Summer holidays! Ajji smiled to herself as she waited for two more of her grandchildren to arrive. Raghu and Meenu would be here soon. Anand and Krishna had already arrived with their mother the previous evening. They had been waiting restlessly for their cousins to arrive ever since. Even though Ajji told them Raghu and Meenu would be here the next morning, these two kids just would not listen. They went to the railway station with their grandfather, Ajja, to receive them. The train must have pulled into the tiny railway station of Shiggaon by now, and their grandfather would have hired a taxi to bring them home along with their mother and the stacks of luggage.

  Ajji hurried through her bath. She had finished cooking their favourite dishes, and was now wearing a nice, soft cotton sari before going to the veranda to wait for them.

  There! There they came! What a noise the children were making! They all nearly tumbled out of the car and came leaping and shouting to her, each wanting to be the first to be hugged by her. Each one wanted to be closest to Ajji.

  Soon the children settled down. A visit to Ajji and Ajja’s house meant first inspecting the garden to see how much the plants had grown since they last came. Then they went to check on the cows, calves, dog, pups, cats and kittens. Then they all ate huge quantities of Ajji’s delicious food. Finally, while their mothers went off to chat and rest, the children gathered around their grandmother for the best part of the holidays—listening to her wonderful stories, particularly in the late afternoon.

  Let us, too, gather under the fast revolving fan, on a mat on the floor, fighting to be nearest to her, and listen in.

  ‘Doctor, Doctor’

  The first day, the children asked, ‘Ajji, how do you know so many stories?’

  Ajji smiled and answered, ‘My grandmother told me many stories. Some I read in books. A few I learnt from youngsters like you, and the rest from your Ajja.’ Then Ajji paused and said, ‘I see all of you have grown a lot since the last time I saw you. So before I start telling any stories, I want to know what each of you want to be when you grow up.’

  Raghu, who was eleven years old, and the oldest of all, said immediately, ‘I want to be an environment scientist.’ Meenu, who was nine, said, ‘I have not decided, maybe a computer person like my dad.’ Anand, who was ten, said, ‘I want to be an astronaut,’ and his twin sister Krishna firmly said, ‘I want to become a fashion designer.’ Ajji smiled. ‘I am glad all of you have thought about this. We should always have some aim in life which we must try to achieve while being of help to others. Now let me tell you a story of a person who learnt just such a lesson.’

  Shall we, too, join Ajji and her gan