For this episode of Vidhi’s Bollywood Jukebox, I decided to do some storytelling while hosting my show. The oral tradition of storytelling in India is centuries old. Panchatantra and Jataka Tales are some of the most ancient fables that have animal characters with human attributes. While the former is said to have invented by a sage to educate a king’s three songs, the latter is an anthology of stories where Gautam Buddha assumes different animal forms. I found a really interesting book by author Laura Gibbs, titled ‘Tiny Tales from India’ in which she features 200 of these fables, each 100 words in length. In addition to the animal fables are stories about the court jester Tenali Rama who served the king Krishnadevaraya and Birbal, Emperor Akbar’s trusted advisor, philosopher and courtier.

It was fun to read out these story “quickies” and play corresponding Bollywood songs that I matched with each story. Laura Gibbs has been kind enough to make the book available in the public domain so that people can read out the stories to their children, modify them or even rewrite them. Here’s the link to complete book: https://microfables.blogspot.com/2020/06/tiny-tales-from-india.html

Hope you enjoy listening to the show and reading the book. Do share your experiences in the comments. Cheers!