Beastly Tales

Vikram Seth’s collection of poems, ‘Beastly Tales From Here and There,’ is hilariously entertaining.

It appears more like a fable which carries moral lessons. I relished reading each poem and wondered why I never read his prose. I am sure it would be equally engrossing.

I am copying few wonderfully written lines from these poems.

The Crocodile and the Monkey
On the Ganga’s greenest isle
Lived Kuroop the crocodile:
Greeny-brown with gentle grin,
Stubby legs and scaly skin…

We all have read the story of how a crocodile lures his friend monkey to dine with him and his wife deep in the river. And when they are in the center of the river he reveals the purpose of this invitation. The foolish crocodile carries the monkey back to the banks of the river for the monkey to fetch his juicy heart from the hollow of the tree…

When the monkey saw kuroop
He let out a joyous whoop,
Jumped from branch to branch with pleasure
Flinging down the golden treasure

The Louse and the Mosquito
It is a story about a louse and his gang who used to enjoy sucking the royal family’s blood. Once a mosquito enters their territory and requests to nip the king and suck his blood. The kind wakes up with a startle and orders the mosquito to be killed, but in that process the entire band of louse get killed, and the mosquito escapes unhurt…

“Sir Mosquito, flap your wings.
Leave at once. This bed’s the King’s”
“Who may you be, Lady Louse?”
‘I’m the guardian of this house.”

The Mouse and the Snake

One fine morning two small mice,
Much against their friend’s advice,
Visited a room where grain
Undisturbed for months had lain.
Other mice had entered; none
Lived to eat and tell—not one.
But the two friends, unpoliced,
Broke in and began to feast;
And their laughter fell and rose,
Till their blood with horror froze.

…The snake swallows one mouse and leaps to eat the other one, but this mouse succeeds in escaping and when the snake decides to enter its hole, the mouse outside bites the snake’s tail and tries to make the snake tired. In this process the snakes spats the swallowed mouse. The mouse than weeps and carries away the dead friend.

The Rat and the Ox
Chinese zodiac signs have different animals as their symbol. Once all the zodiacs acted oddly. The Rabbit, monkey, tiger, boar, dog, sheep, dragon, ox, cock, snake, horse and rat were recommended as guards to bring order. All these creatures disliked being assigned to head the different zodiacs.

The rat on being assigned to the second place raised a hue and cry and wanted to be replaced with the ox who occupied the first position.

…But the Rat was far from grateful
And he screamed in accents hateful:
“Are you trying to ignore me?
Why’s this Ox been placed before me?
Equity has been denied!
Merit has been thrust aside!
Justice, faith, and truth have gone!"
On he screamed, and on and on.

The rat asked the people to decide. Ox thought that based on the size he was sure to win, so just out of pity he agreed to let people decide. He was sure to be a winner in any case. In the night the rat comes to the ox and cries saying that he has been foolish and that he is sure bound to lose on public vote. Ox asked him to plead to god; the gods increased the mouse in size-bigger than the ox. The people naturally voted for him, and that is how he got the first slot in zodiac.

The Eagle and the Beetle
A beetle and hare used to be together wherever they went. One day an eagle saw the, and ate the hare. The beetle was upset. It thought of taking revenge. For the next few months/years it would destroy the eggs of eagle – it would just roll off the eggs wherever they were laid. The eagle then lays egg in the lap of Zeus [king of the gods] on his instructions. The beetle looks at the egg and throws its dung on the lap. Zeus gets up to clean the dress and in doing so drops the egg.

Past hope, the eagle pined away
And died of grief—and to this day
They say that eagles will not nest
In months when beetles fly their best.

The Hare and the Tortoise
Once or twice upon a time
In the land of Runnyrhyme
Lived a hare both hot and heady
And a tortoise slow and steady

This story we all have known as kids. But Vikram has presented it is such a wonderful way. You must read it to enjoy, for I don’t have words to explain the humor ingrained.

When at noon the hare awoke
She would tell herself a joke,
Squeal with laughter, roll about,
Eat her eggs and sauerkraut,
Then pick up the phone and babble,
--“Gibble-gabble, gibble-gabble”—

The Cat and the Cock
Cat and cock were friends. Once the cat goes out and tells the cock not to venture out. The fox is able to get hold of the cock and takes him to his house and prepares to eat the cock for supper. He has to leave for something and instructs his kids to take care of the cock for it should not run away, and to stay inside.

When the cat returns and finds the cock missing, it figures out the culprit and goes outside the house of the fox. One by one she is able to capture the kids of the fox, and finally barters them for the cock’s life.

Amazing tale of friendship!

death at my doorstep

death at my doorstep by Khuswant Singh is a collection of obituaries he has written for people who he has loved and loathed.

This book may not carry any long lasting value in terms of entertainment reading or some literary accomplishment.

I bought it with interest because it carries short biographical information about politicians, government servants, artists, and people in media. People whom he has outlived.

Manto

I picked up Saadat Hasan Manto’s translated stories by Aatish Taseer. I first heard about Manto from Vivek who likes reading stories by Ismat Chugtai and Manto.

Back to this book I finished reading day before. It is a collection of ten beautifully translated short stories. At the end of each story a reader might ponder about the characters, and I for sure wondered ‘what if?’ – There should have been more. I am not sure if I was expecting, or wanted, happy endings, but each story seems incomplete to me, or maybe I want to fill more…

Ten rupees: the story is about sarita, a young prostitute, who goes out with three men in a car. They go to a beach where the men have beer and the kid in saritha just enjoys the ride, the company of men, and nothing else. Before they start the car, she is handed a 10 rupee note which is her price, but on getting down she returns the note to the driver while the two other men are dozing off in the back seat. She returned the money because they did not do anything…

Blouse: story of momin and his growing up from a child to an adolescent, and not understanding the transformation within. His master’s daughter stitches a satin blouse for herself and he’s there to help her. He picks up her moist vest and feels different. When no one is around, he feels the softness of the blouse…

Khol do: story of a father whose daughter gets lost during partition. He requests a couple of guys to search her; they do find her alive and perhaps rape her…

Khaled Mian: story of a superstitious man who thinks his son would not live to celebrate his first birthday, and for whatever reasons, his suspicion comes true.

Ram Khilavan: the dhobi who is indebted to a Muslim couple for saving his life. Drinks alcohol and is about to kill the husband but realizes and saves him from the anti-muslim rioters; and later apologizes.

License: Nesti starts driving the tonga/coach after her husband’s death. She was beautiful and received a lot of marriage proposals but she refused. For being women, her license was cancelled. She finally had to sell her body for a living…

The Mice of Shah Daulah: Salima had to handover her first born to the caretakers of Shah Daulah with hose blessings she had the child after 6-7 years of marriage. Thereafter she had two more kids, but she could never forget her first one. She meets him after almost 10 years, but loses him very shortly…

Smell: Randhir who has never had dearth of women flocking his house, sleeps with a Marathi girl who gets drenched in the rain. He inhaled a strange smell which came from her body and remembered it for long after she had gone…