Ever tried selling one of the stories from Ramayana or Mahabharata to a child today? Especially one raised on a PG or U certificate rating anywhere else but in India? Hair-raising, I tell you. For one, the stories are all way too gory for their bland tastes. Tell them so-on-so chopped the other bloke’s finger or head off and watch young eyes turn into saucers. The whys and whats and loud gasps would take days to stem, leave alone the increased Nightmare Alert.
If your child is not raised on an Indian filmi diet, then the damage is manifold. Stunted far-fetched imagination, refusal to accept outlandish suggestions and the uncanny ability to put their finger on the one point of niggling abnormality are all just a few of the side-effects.
Take Krishna, for example. The whole baby Krishna- Bhoothana story was declared no-no the minute breastfeeding as a concept was introduced. Being an only child, P has led a much sheltered upbringing and the concept of a baby feeding off a lady’s er, chest, brought forth series of shrieks from my young lad. The Kalinga nardhan story also suffered a similar fate, when the gravitational forces (damn the school’s Science week) and the inability of the parents to keep an eye on their child (Krishna, that is) were brought into question.
I actually managed to sneak in a story of Chathrapathi Sivaji during yet another problematic mealtime, in an effort to make him eat his pasta from the corners of the bowl. This did work for a while and then disaster, in the form of Rajini’s super-dooper hit film hit and now the Chathrapathi got mixed up with ‘Vaaji, Vaaji’ and we were back to Square -1.
I am nothing if not persistent. So tried a different tack and told him the story of Ekalavya over breakfast cereal this morning. Buoyed by the fact that I wasn’t met with rapid fire questions that blew holes into the story, I bravely plodded on. Till I came to the part where Drona asks for Ekalavya’s thumb as guru dakshina.
That was when my luck ran out.
“He asked for the boy’s thumb? Why? That is so gross! Did the boy die?”
“Er, no. It was just his thumb.”
“Why did the teacher want it anyway?”
“With the thumb gone, Ekalavya cannot use a bow and arrow anymore and Arjuna would be the champion shooter, that’s why.”
“Eh? So what if he can’t use a bow and arrow or his right hand? He can use his left hand! Or he can use a gun! Pow pow pow! Easy, see?”
Sigh.
My gran and her kind did not know how lucky they were with us, I tell you. Seriously.
“Eh? So what if he can’t use a bow and arrow or his right hand? He can use his left hand! Or he can use a gun! Pow pow pow! Easy, see?”
haaha.. smart kid!! lol
That he is, gOOpi, that he is! Much more than his idiot mum!
I run into the same problem. All the stories my dad used to tell us as kids.. I simply cannot tell them for a G audience. they are all quite violent and this society is so different. I have no solution to this. maybe its for the best.. the stories do raise so many questions. It’s hard to keep the spirit of the story without the details.
All my dreams of rocking my kids to sleep, telling them stories from our great epics – total washout! Same goes for the Jataka Tale types too. Maybe I should have started early – in utero or something!!
You might want to buy him comics – for some reason, kids swallow violence a lot more easily in comic book form than when you’re telling them the stuff. although pratik might be a little too young for those. isnt he a baby? how well does he read?
I once got him some Asterix and he wasn’t too impressed. But he likes the Panchatantra stuff. So I shall have to try the comics route. when I was his age I loved it. Phantom, Mandrake, Batman, Spidey and even Bahadur!!!
He ain’t a baby any more, Ams – he is six next week! And reads pretty well, if I say so myself!
phew! some tough job this is! and you’re signing up for it again !!
Oh I know, matey! But I tell you what, this is the fun part of it all. When they can talk and things.
Good times!
and – totally unrelatd to this post – but – can we please, please have some more recipes on that sappadu thayaar?
Oh a fan!! Nah seriously, I have got so many pix – P never eats a meal without getting flashbulbs in his face – but am so lazy to type up the recipe and put it on. Will get cracking on it.
The times they are a changing….
I often wonder how the Famous Five and other adventure stories we read as kids would appeal in this era of cell phones. Though of course the technlogy we enjoy today is probably as magical as that in our mythology.
You must have really grossed out Pratik with the breast feeding story!
I did not gross him out, yaar – he kinda, sorta did it himself. One of my friends, who’s precocious 4.5 year old daughter narrated me the story in gory detail loves it. And is matter of fact with breast feeding, thanks to her mum feeding her baby sis. So the friend reckons once the new baby comes, Pratik will get used to it. But first the house will resonate with sounds of ‘yucky!’ and ‘ewww!’ and other assorted stuff!
Famous Five is totally unsuited to today’s Brit society – kids who listened to their folks, minded their p’s and q’s and generally behaved like model children? Get out of here!!
Tagged!
Intrigued! You do know I am hopeless at them, right?
I get a whole lot of questions from my kids too – LOL – and actually did a post on the logical holes they dug up while watching sundry films :
http://reviewroom.blogspot.com/2006/09/hindi-films-and-cultural-slopes.html
Actually my daughter loves Enid Blyton (Famous 5, the 5 Find-Outers, Secret 7) although I can’t find Blyton in my local library here in the US.
six?! oh my, he’s a big boy. Not big enough to read asterix though, dg. amar chitra katha is more his speed. asterix is 10 and over imo – you need to be a bit older to appreciate the punny humor.
[...] some kids do not believe mythologies so easily, as Desigirl finds out. “With the thumb gone, Ekalavya cannot use a bow and arrow anymore and Arjuna would be the [...]
asterix is 10 and over imo – you need to be a bit older to appreciate the punny humor
I actually have to agree with Amrita on that one. My mom used to work for the government office that handled accounting for the Central Goverment run libraries in India and she introduced me to Asterix et. al. The problem though was, some of the cultural connections and jokes went over my head (e.g. names like Getafix, the Rolling Menhirs) etc. I am still discovering the various links. Tintin on the other hand was enjoyed just like it is enjoyed now. I managed to cram a lot, but with little retention.
Try Karadi Tales. They seem like a lot of fun.
er, I am thinking I really should. As long as they don’t have names like Shuthabuddhi etc!
My experience has been completely different. My 4 yr. old and many of her friends that I know who were born and raised in US love watching mythological shows……infact there is lots of action and magic and “weird and crazy” things going on there. My daughter loves the show “ravan” and also “nagin” lolol