Year: 2025

A Demon Who Loved Music

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A Short History of Folktales in India Folktales are Oral stories that are passed down by the elders to the younger generation. For centuries, folktales have been a crucial medium for preserving cultural traditions and teaching the youth to understand the world around them. A Folktale from Uttar Pradesh A poor Brahman grew sick of being poor and set out on a pilgrimage to Kashi, the holy city. After walking many miles in the sun, he stopped in a shady grove to rest and eat the stale rice he had packed himself for the journey. As he squatted under a tree to answer the call of nature, he was startled by a deep unearthly voice that said, ‘Don’t.’ He quickly got up and looked about him for the source of the voice. He could see no one around. He then walked to a nearby pond to rinse his mouth when again he heard the voice say, ‘Don’t!.’ This time he went ahead and rinsed his mouth, not heeding the warning but when he unpacked his …

Living Like a Pig

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A Short History of Folktales in India Folktales are Oral stories that are passed down by the elders to the younger generation. For centuries, folktales have been a crucial medium for preserving cultural traditions and teaching the youth to understand the world around them. A Folktale from Andhra Pradesh One day, a guru foresaw in a flash of vision what he would be in his next life. So he called his favourite disciple and asked him what he would do for his guru un return for all he had received. The disciple said he would do whatever his guru asked him to do. Having received this promise, the guru said, ‘Then this is what I would like you to do for me. I have just learned that when I die, which will be very soon, i am going to be reborn as a pig. Do you see that sow eating garbage there in the yard? I am going to be reborn as the fourth piglet of its next litter. You will recognise me by a …

A Chance Visit to One of the Oldest Temple of Uttarakhand

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This times even though I wasn’t very excited somehow because of Work and also the pressure of going back to college and studies, I did take out a day to visit Jageshwar. Yet as I moved, I was stopped by the remarkable Lakhudiyar Caves and later my intuition took me towards a temple I did not even know existed yet it became the highlight of my travels this and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Travelling through Rural West Bengal in Blazing Indian Monsoons- I

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Monsoons are going on, Or are they going? They say that this year it’ll not only rain but the skies are going to weep. Clouds arrived four weeks early. And they have mostly stayed. Even the universe knows, that the monsoon times most children are angry or show their displeasure. They are told to not go out as it will rain, yet many go and whirl even at the expense of catching cold. Because only they know that cold does not exist, what does breathe in them is the joy of dancing with nature’s music. Few years ago, I travelled through Rural Bengal during the majestic Indian Monsoons. Being there it felt like my soul grew while only seeing the earth showing her abundance, her happiness. So many emotions churned within me then that I had to write a letter to a friend who sat far. Not to tell her as such, but to learn myself what was actually happening, to me. Many years later as I read this letter, I am taken back again to …

Walking Through Time- Exploring Prehistoric Lakhudiyar Cave Shelter and Paintings

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On my way to Jageshwar Temple, at a curve I came across a board and behind it a big Rocky Mountain that pulled me to inspect it. Upon reading I was surprised to learn they were a Prehistoric Rock Shelter that had paintings and shapes of men and animals drawn by men of different period. It was an amazing and compelling short visit that took me by surprise. I filmed and posted it on Road To Nara YouTube channel this week. It’s my second video and slowly I shall find my rhythm to post more frequently there. Also there is a ‘caption option’ as I am creating these videos in Hindi(majorly) + English = ‘Hinglish’ as we call it, for anyone who is living anywhere outside Indian Subcontinent. If you haven’t yet come over to the channel, please find it as an invite and be kind to subscribe it. I will make sure you have as good a journey there as you have had on this blog. Sharing some images of that day and a …

The Cure for the Mother Spirits

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A Short History of Folktales in India Folktales are Oral stories that are passed down by the elders to the younger generation. For centuries, folktales have been a crucial medium for preserving cultural traditions and teaching the youth to understand the world around them. Tenali Rama or Tenali Ramakrishna (born Garlapati Ramakrishna; also known as Tenali Ramalinga was born as ; 22 September 1480 – 5 August 1528) was a Telugu poet, scholar, and advisor in the court of Sri Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagara Empire. Hailing from Tenali, he earned acclaim as one of the Ashtadiggajas, a group of eight celebrated Telugu poets in Sri Krishnadevaraya’s court, and is best known for his sharp wit and humour. A Folktale From Rural Andhra Pradesh The queen mother lay dying and she said, I have one last wish. I would love to taste a sweet mango before I die. But alas, it was not the mango season. The King sent messengers far and wide, and it was weeks before they could bring back one measly little mango. It was too late. The king’s mother had died meanwhile. The …

If it Isn’t You, It Must Be Your Father

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A Short History of Folktales in India Folktales are Oral stories that are passed down by the elders to the younger generation. For centuries, folktales have been a crucial medium for preserving cultural traditions and teaching the youth to understand the world around them. A Folktale From Rural Karnataka Once a lamb was drinking water in a mountain stream. A tiger came to drink the water a few yards above him, saw the lamb, and said, ‘why are you muddying my stream?’ The lamb said, How can I muddy your water? I am down here and you are up there.’ ‘But you did it yesterday,’ said the tiger. ‘I wasn’t even here yesterday!’ ‘Then it must have been your mother.’ My mother died a long time ago. They took her away.’ ‘Then it must have been your father.’ ‘My father? I don’t even know who he is,’ said the desperate lamb, getting ready to run. ‘I don’t care. It must be your grandfather or great-grandfather who has been muddying my stream. I am going to …

11 Greatest Indian Circus Photographs of the 20th Century

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I have been a Photographer in this lifetime. And I feel I have been a photographer first than being anything else later. And one thing that a photographer does for a lot many hours is only seeing. And if seeing gets him closer to nature, he then starts studying seeing, observing, reading and doing everything else when not taking photographs. Photography carries a rich history and we can imagine that now when we have got all the equipments and technology by our side where we can just delete an image right after taking it. This could not be even imagined 30 years ago. And through that period came courageous, motivated people who took up camera to pen their observations. If this post is being read by anyone who is born after 2000, you may feel at home and open yourself up to take some time out to study some of the most brilliant minds who took up image making, who made images when no one was watching. Their documentation changed the ways of seeing. Their …

One Bengali Monsoon Wedding and a Rare Feast –III

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After I experienced the most dramatic Orchestra by the Frogs and Company, drunk Kaushik later that night told me to rethink leaving for home instead consider this as a mystical invitation for a tribal wedding that he will be attending later that week. I was already on an extended journey here in Bengal, but incessant downpour set me up for long at Kaushik’s home in Jhargram. During one of those rainy nights Kaushik received a phone call, where his friend invited him a day prior to his sister’s wedding . I got excited and we decided to leave, with a condition. His friend asked us to reach by the daylight. We started from his home on time, but rain and bad roads took whole day to reach that place from where we had to take the last jeep for the wedding home to his friend’s village. It was a strange place. There were many people but I felt there was no one talking. Like at any crossroad in the world, people were walking, buying things, …

ROAD TO NARA now on YouTube- Welcoming you on the Channel

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As Writers our responsibility has evolved multifold in last one decade and all the more after Covid. World seems to be on the move even as we speak and Read. We are more busier than Ants and somehow it always feels today that ‘Life is Elsewhere’, at least for a major some. But if you ask me, Life is within and we are the creators of it. It might be hard and grinding but a lot of Grit and little discipline can see us engrossed in the most beautiful ways where time feels like an illusion. Writing comes to me as water to Well, in ancient times at least but today, less people seems to be happy with just water. Reading is giving way to watching. And watching is the new eating. We are eating with our eyes and we want even more. But I do not wish and never desired to start something which felt like a commission either a necessity. Like writing here on the ‘Road To Nara’ Blog has become nature and …

One Day Under the Dark Monsoon Clouds Of West Bengal- II

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Once a football field where i had played on the first day of my arrival five days ago had nature-d, transformed into a full filled country pond. It was unrecognisable. Dark was taking over the orange and the blues. But down here in front of me something seemed awry. Something revealing in the way the frogs were gathering. They were so many, so many in front of me that i could have kept.

HALF Way in or Half Way Out- Reflections on the Blog, Year and Life

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I left Delhi again. And you know, every time I leave Delhi for a town or even a city, I am surprised with how pleasant the life is outside. First thing that you always notice moving out of Delhi is how vast and wide-ranging the sky becomes. There are no more glimpses of Moons and Suns between buildings rather you become an observer of a painting happening.

Narayan KAUDINYA 2011, Self (Pachmarhi Stories)

Rare Stories: A Gondi Folktale that Might Make You Angry

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Folktales are Oral stories that are passed down by the elders to the younger generation. For centuries, folktales have been a crucial medium for preserving cultural traditions and teaching the youth to understand the world around them. A Rare FOLKTALE From the Jungles of Chhattisgarh Few years ago, i found an opportunity to travel again through Central India. Through the oldest jungles. It was a time of limited communications. Freedom of another kind. Not a baggage of expectations, of calls and answers after every turn of the day. One could breathe without attending to the urgency of each passing thought. And even now, whenever I imagine about that phase, that land, those forests, streams i bathed in, those trees i touched as i passed and the people, their humbling nature, their beliefs rooted in the earthen-ness of sharing and giving, their customs, rituals and most importantly their stories that are ages old. One could feel the Ancientness brimming out-seeping in as if they want you to become still and hear what they are carrying. Sharing …

The Tiger’s Adopted Son

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Folktales are Oral stories that are passed down by the elders to the younger generation. For centuries, folktales have been a crucial medium for preserving cultural traditions and teaching the youth to understand the world around them. A Folktale from Orissa An old couple had no children and no land. They were very poor. They went out to the jungle everyday, dug roots and tubers, and ate them. They lived that way. When they were already old, the woman got pregnant. After several months, she gave birth to a child in the tuber patch. She called out to the old man, Old man, the child is born. What should we do? He said, we have nothing to eat. We have no clothes or anything else. How will we take care of a child? She said, ‘well, old man, let’s leave him here in the tuber patch and go home. Then may be someone else will take care of him.’ They agreed and left him in the tuber patch and went home. The child began to …

Tenali Rama’s Dream

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Tenali Rama or Tenali Ramakrishna (born Garlapati Ramakrishna; also known as Tenali Ramalinga was born as ; 22 September 1480 – 5 August 1528) was a Telugu poet, scholar, and advisor in the court of Sri Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagara Empire. Hailing from Tenali, he earned acclaim as one of the Ashtadiggajas, a group of eight celebrated Telugu poets in Sri Krishnadevaraya’s court, and is best known for his sharp wit and humour. His literary contributions include the notable work Panduranga Mahatmyam, which is regarded as one of the five great Telugu Kāvyas. He is often referred to by the title “Vikatakavi,” meaning “jester poet,” reflecting his unique ability to blend humour with wisdom. Tenali Ramakrishna’s legacy continues to inspire various cultural adaptations in literature and media

10 Indian Movies that Visitors Must Watch before Travelling to India

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India is a Land of Storytellers. Here, since time immemorial, stories through various ways have been the real medium of remembering, praying and even worshipping their beings. Be it the legends from the Vedas, The Ramayana, the Mahabharata, Bhagvad Gita, the Puranas, folktales- they have been floating in various lores and forms throughout the length and breadth of this vast country. Here, the greatest of kings, the demons, the Yogis and the Saints have all been still living only through the stories of valour, sacrifice, the fiercest of battles and the tapas of Yogis that have inspired and motivated the people of this land to not just dream and wait for magic to happen but get up and dedicate oneself to one’s duties and work towards goals with unwavering focus and without attachment. Here, in the land of India i.e. Bharat– One who tells the best stories rules the hearts of Indian People. Since we are amongst the oldest Storytellers in the history of the Mankind, I thought to open this post as a conversation …

One Scary Night at the India Pakistan Border – Visiting Tanot Mata Temple Longewala

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Amongst the six major wars since Independence in 1947, India fought its deadliest battle with East Pakistan which resulted in the Birth of a country called ‘Bangladesh”, in 1971. But, even though, the Indian Army was confronting the rogue Pakistani soldiers in erstwhile East Pakistan, Pakistan decided to engage Indian Army and opened the western front in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan where only 120 Indian soldiers were manning their territory against 2000-3000 Pak soldiers with 40 Tanks. It was a night attack in a vulnerable open desert landscape which back fired for Pakistani Army six hours later but by then they had bombed most installations with heavy causalities. It is known that amongst all of this the only structure that was left as it was, was a mother Temple called Tanot Mata Temple, with 120 men winning an unusually long fight. My work was done by the noontime. After a whole morning of chasing a Manganiyar tribe, I finished my interview with the old tribal singer and requested Veeru’s great grandfather to sit under …

How a Mouse Became the Vehicle of Lord Ganesha?

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In India, the term Trimurti is used in reference to the three faces of god. They are Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. They are collectively known as the Trinity. Together they represent the oneness of the universe while retaining their distinctive nature and are known for their ability to grant boons. Hymns are chanted every day all over India, in temples and homes, and countless stories abound in their praise. Here is the tale of How a Musician Became the Mouse and the Vehicle of Lord Ganesha Krauncha was a celestial musician in Indra’s court. One day, he was running late for a performance and was walking rather hurriedly. Unfortunately, in his haste, he stepped on an old sage’s foot. The sage, whose name was Vamadeva, cursed Krauncha in a fit of fury and pain. “May you turn into a rodent that frantically scampers everywhere!’ Poor Krauncha was immediately transformed into a huge mountain rat. Also Read: The Story and the Legend of the Elephant God Ganesha As a rat he troubled many people, often creeping …

The Untold Tantric Powers of the Yoginis of the Kamakhya Shaktipeeth

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Unlike other temples, Kamakhya Temple doesn’t house traditional murtis of Yoginis. Instead, Yogini Pithas (sacred spots) are scattered around the temple, symbolizing their invisible yet omnipresent power. The temple is linked to Vama Marg Tantra, a left-hand path that involves secretive rituals, like Taamsik offerings symbolizing transcendence beyond duality.

In the Wake of Dastardly Terrorist Attack In Pahalgam

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Most of you who have followed me for over four years might know how close my relationship with Kashmir has been. I have written, reported, extensively documented for various Organisations over the years. I have myself lived in Kashmir during curfews, the most vulnerable, volatile days. I have had the deepest time of my life as a teacher, as a Traveller and as a person who is dedicated to arts and expression. Terrorist Attacks are not new for my country. We have been dealing this for the longest time to an extent we were even called too much tolerant at one point because we never knew who our Osama was. But somewhere we do know. We cannot look back to 26/11 and many other incidents But what happened yesterday has taken not only mine but nation’s heart out. Terrorists before and mostly fought the Central Reserve Police Force(The CRPF), Local Police and some times clashed with the Army Personnel but attacking and murdering 26 tourists including 1 Local, 2 tourist from Nepal after identifying them …

Bopoluchi the Bride- A Folktale from Punjab

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A Short History of Folktales in India Folktales are Oral stories that are passed down by the elders to the younger generation. For centuries, folktales have been a crucial medium for preserving cultural traditions and teaching the youth to understand the world around them. Bopoluchi- The Bride’s Revenge: A Folktale from Rural Punjab A number of young girls were drawing water at the village well and telling each other their fantasies of when and whom and how they would marry. One of them said, My uncle will come loaded with wedding presents and dress me in a brocade, and I will get married in a palace.’ Another said, ‘My uncle is coming soon with a camel-load of sweets.’ The third said, ‘Oh, my uncle will be here in no time in a golden carriage filled with jewels.’ Bopoluchi was the prettiest of them all and she looked sad- she was an orphan and had no one in the world to arrange a marriage for her or give her a dowry. Still, not to be outdone …

The Golden and Silver Hair of Sona and Rupa

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Folktales are Oral stories that are passed down by the elders to the younger generation. For centuries, folktales have been a crucial medium for preserving cultural traditions and teaching the youth to understand the world around them. A folktale in Malwi, a Rajasthani Hindi dialect of Madhya Pradesh: Sona and Rupa One evening a prince was returning home on his black mare after a hunt, and took the mare to drink from a stream. As he watched it drink, he saw, along with his own and his mare’s reflection, several strands of gold and silver hair floating on the water. Obviously, lovely women with hair of gold and hair of silver had bathed somewhere nearby, upstream. He bent down and picked up the hair. The more he looked at it, the more he thought of the beauty of women with such hair and was infatuated with the images in his head. He tucked the hair into the folds of his turban, mounted his mare, and went home to his palace. It was time for dinner, …