Grandparents' Bag of Stories

by Sudha Murty

  Ajji looked at the children, but her mind wandered elsewhere.

  ‘Ajji is a treasure trove of stories. I am sure she knows this story too,’ said Ajja, his face crinkling into a slight smile.

  ‘Yes, of course I know. Kamlu Ajji knows the same one too. Kamlu, why don’t you tell them this story?’

  ‘Maybe I will share it tomorrow, you must all be tired now,’ said Kamlu Ajji.

  ‘No, Kamlu Ajji, we are never too tired to hear stories. Please tell us,’ insisted Meenu.

  And so, Kamlu Ajji began her story.

  Arun was a young, brave and courageous lad. He loved adventures, so he decided to set out from his village. He took his bow and arrows and began walking aimlessly—he wanted to explore the world.

  After trekking for a few hundred kilometres, he came across a beautiful lake with a bridge. As he got closer, he saw a huge serpent occupying the entire length of the bridge. He had two choices: he could either turn back or cross the bridge regardless of the serpent. If he chose the latter, he would have to step on the serpent carefully until he reached the other end.

  Since Arun didn’t want to go back, he began walking on the serpent’s body. After he took a few strides, he heard a voice say, ‘Hello, hello, stop right there!’

  Arun turned around and to his astonishment, he saw that the serpent had vanished and in its place stood an old man. A little afraid, he asked the old man, ‘Are you calling out to me?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Where is the serpent? It was here a moment ago,’ asked Arun.

  ‘I am the serpent. In fact, I am the king of serpents and have a fantastic palace below this lake,’ said the old man.

  ‘Then why were you sleeping here?’

  ‘To see if I could solve a problem. You see, there is a cruel and powerful eagle who lives on the other side of the mountain. Every day, she comes and eats one of my subjects. Besides my subjects, I have many children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren too, and no matter how much I try, I have not been able to defeat the eagle. So, I wanted to test and find someone who is bold and courageous, and will agree to help us. That is why I changed my size and laid down on the bridge. Everybody who came here chose to turn back, except you. You have passed my test. Will you try and help us?’

  Hearing the sincerity in the old man’s voice, Arun knew instantly that he was telling the truth. The desire to help save a kingdom and to fight a nasty eagle was too strong for Arun to refuse. He nodded.

  The old man smiled, relieved to have found a ray of hope. ‘We have some time before the eagle comes again tomorrow. Would you like to visit my palace?’ he asked.

  Arun agreed and they both jumped into the water.

  Arun thought that he would hit bottom soon, but he didn’t. The two men passed through a tunnel and entered a beautiful, impressive city with plenty of plants, fruits and flowers. Many serpents walked around in the form of humans, but there was a stillness in the water. Despite the obvious prosperity, no one seemed happy.

  The serpent king guided Arun to his palace. Soon, there was a huge feast laid out in his honour. There was more food than he had ever seen before! After a hearty meal, the king introduced him to his clan.

  The king thought, Poor Arun, this might be his last meal.

  The next morning, the serpent king and Arun came back to the surface of the lake.

  It wasn’t long before Arun heard a terrifying screech. An enormous and scary eagle was heading towards them, intent on breaking through the water and finding its next victim from the city that lay underneath.

  Arun took out his bow and got ready to shoot at the eagle. He only had three arrows in his quiver.

  He shot the first arrow—it touched the left wing of the eagle, broke and fell down. The eagle continued flying without missing a beat. The serpent king grew concerned. Perhaps this boy will not be able to slay the eagle either, he thought.

  He let loose the second arrow—it touched the right wing of the eagle, broke and fell down. The eagle continued to fly steadily towards them. The serpent king grew more and more concerned.

  There was only one arrow left now, and the eagle was going to reach them soon.

  Arun looked down at the lake and saw the eagle’s reflection in the water. There was a wound on the eagle’s neck. Arun took aim, said a prayer and launched an arrow directly at the eagle’s wound. The arrow hit its mark, and the eagle collapsed into the water and drowned.

  The cruel eagle had finally been slain.

  The serpent king was ecstatic. He embraced Arun, ‘My child, thank you for your kindness and bravery. I can never repay your favour, nor will my kingdom or my subjects ever forget you.’

  The city and all the serpent folk celebrated the victory with gusto. The king took Arun on a personal tour of the kingdom. Arun noticed that in every home, people were cooking something he had never seen before—it was cream and beige in colour.

  The serpents requested him to stay in the city for some time, but Arun wanted to go and explore more of the world. At the farewell lunch on the final day of his stay, Arun noticed that the same thing he had seen being cooked earlier was being served in different varieties.

  ‘What is this?’ he asked.

  ‘This is wheat, it originates from grass. We only eat the grain we obtain from it during festivals or on special occasions like today. We are honouring you by serving wheat,’ explained the king.

  The queen joined in and said, ‘We make a variety of dishes using wheat, it is a vital food and easy to eat and digest. It also gives us lots of energy.’

  Arun tried it and enjoyed it more than anything else that had been served.

  When he was about to leave, the queen came and presented him with bags of gold nuggets, diamonds, rubies and emeralds. The king said, ‘This is our gift to you.’

  However, Arun politely refused the gift. He said, ‘I don’t need these expensive stones or metals. If you really want to give me something, please give me a handful of wheat seeds that I can plant and help my fellow men enjoy it too!’

  The king and queen exchanged looks, they had never shared this with any human before. The serpent king said, ‘Gratitude is the highest representation of civilization. We will share some wheat seeds with you and teach you how to grow it. Let your world also enjoy this. Whenever you eat wheat, remember that we shared our secret with you and that you helped us through a tough time.’

  The king handed over a bag of wheat seeds and soon, Arun left the serpent kingdom and returned to land, bringing the secret of wheat along with him.

  The Magic Beans/Jaggu and the Beanstalk

  The next morning, Ajji called the children and said, ‘The lockdown has begun. We should obey the prime minister and do what our country needs. Each of you must wash your hands multiple times a day and avoid touching your face, mouth and nose with your hands. If you feel unwell, tell me immediately.’

  ‘No helpers will come to work in our house from today,’ added Ajja. ‘That means we have to help Ajji.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Ajji. ‘Now, I will rely on you to help around the house, and chores will be assigned to everyone. Kamlu will look after the kitchen and I will monitor the running of the household.’

  The children nodded, slightly anxious but unable to fully comprehend the seriousness of the lockdown.

  Ajji gave clear instructions: ‘Raghu, you will help Ajja clean and vacuum the house. Krishna will help with the dishwashing. Anoushka and Aditi will help me with the laundry. Meenu, you will assist Kamlu Ajji in the kitchen and gather and wash vegetables too.’

  ‘You never know, kids. You might find it fun to work together!’ said Ajja, trying to lighten the mood as he saw their worried faces.

  The children nodded and split up to take care of their chores.

  Meenu went with Kamlu Ajji to gather vegetables from the garden. She was very happy to see tomatoes, pumpkins, greens and different types of gourds. But there were no cabbages, cauliflowers or potatoes.

  ‘Look
at the beans!’ exclaimed Kamlu Ajji. ‘They are fresh. Go ahead, Meenu, pick them from the bush. It is very easy. Today, we will eat tomato rice and roti with a sabzi made of beans.’

  Meenu started gathering the beans and soon, her basket was full. They came home and Meenu began washing the beans in the kitchen sink.

  Everyone was busy working in the house—cleaning, cooking, washing dishes or doing laundry.

  Once the chores were done, the children gathered to play and saw that Ajji was in an animated discussion with Ajja for a long time. After some time, she announced, ‘Kids, it is important to help others at this time. Ajja and I are thinking of making dry ration kits, so that we can give them to people who can’t afford it but will need it during the lockdown period. Each kit will contain rations for twenty-one days. Rehmat Chacha will come home in his jeep to pick up the kits, but we can’t let him inside because we must practise social distancing. We will keep the kits by the gate and he will pick them up.’

  ‘This activity will add more work for us,’ said Ajja. ‘But we have a solution. Vishnu Kaka is out of station and his trusted helper Damu is alone in the house next door. I spoke to them both. Damu will come in the mornings, help us with packing and household chores and go back in the evenings to Kaka’s house to sleep. He will not go anywhere else. Since Damu is alone, he quite liked the idea of being with us.’

  Ajji smiled at Ajja and said, ‘Come, let’s eat lunch and start packing!’

  After lunch, Raghu said, ‘I want to sit down and relax for a few minutes. Why don’t we all take a break? You can tell us a story, Ajji!’

  ‘The story can wait, Raghu, but hunger cannot. Come, let’s sit and pack. Will you help me?’ asked Ajji.

  ‘We will all help, Ajji,’ clamoured the children.

  My Ajji is very nice and kind. I like it that helping others is more important to her than other things, thought Krishna, feeling proud of her grandmother.

  Just then, Damu entered the house. He greeted the children quickly and helped Ajji bring out huge bags of rice, dal, oil bottles, salt and sugar along with packets of masalas from the storeroom. Ajji had got these from the market two days ago. Each child grabbed a bag to work with and started putting the ingredients into smaller one-kilo bags.

  Ajja or Ajji carried a medium-sized cardboard box to the children, and they each added one small bag of their ingredient to it. Once all the items were in the box, Damu packed it and kept it next to the main gate. The children really enjoyed making the small packets and didn’t think of it as work at all. Time passed quickly and soon it was early evening. Ajja counted the boxes and announced, ‘We have made two hundred boxes!’

  Soon, Rehmat Chacha also came and quickly loaded the boxes in his jeep and took them away to be distributed. The children were excited and felt happy about lending a hand. ‘Give us more! We want to do more!’ said Krishna.

  ‘Yes, yes, we do,’ said Meenu.

  ‘I want to call and tell my mother how much I have helped!’ screamed Anoushka.

  ‘We have done a lot of work for the day. I have ordered more rations, which will be here by tomorrow, so let’s stop for now and continue tomorrow,’ replied Ajja.

  After they had cleaned up, the children gathered around Ajji as she was washing her hands, ‘Tell us a story now!’

  ‘Maybe I will tell you after dinner,’ said Ajji.

  ‘I am still full from lunch,’ said Raghu.

  Anoushka said, ‘Me too! The beans sabzi was excellent. I ate three bowls.’

  ‘It was so easy to pluck them from the bush too!’ said Meenu. ‘Perhaps we can pluck more tomorrow. But if Kamlu Ajji tells me to get coconuts, I can’t get those by myself, they are too high.’

  ‘Why are coconuts found at the top of a tree, while beans grow in shrubs?’ wondered Raghu.

  ‘There is a reason for that,’ said Ajji, wiping her hands.

  ‘What reason?’ asked Raghu.

  ‘It all began with a beanstalk,’ said Ajji, as she sat down and began her story.

  Anita and Jaggu lived on a farm. Anita worked hard, but her husband was very lazy. She would tell her husband every day, ‘If you help me, we can do a lot together. I can’t do everything by myself. We are poor farmers. Please lend a hand so that we can lead a better life.’

  Jaggu, however, wouldn’t listen. Poor Anita did whatever she could. She worked hard to grow vegetables and sold them at the market. The money was just enough to make ends meet and somehow, Anita managed to take care of the house and their basic needs.

  One day, while returning from the market, there was loud thunder and a heavy downpour. Anita was passing by a small house and decided to ask for shelter there. She saw an old man cooking, he invited her to sit down in the veranda and wait for the rain to stop. When the rain showed no signs of stopping, the man said, ‘Please come inside, young lady. Have a meal before you go.’

  Anita was thankful for his kindness and gave him the leftover vegetables she was carrying back home. The rain refused to subside. While speaking to each other, Anita told the man about the farm and her problems. She didn’t have anyone with whom she could share her deepest thoughts and problems, and she felt comfortable in the company of this sweet and gentle old man.

  He smiled and listened to her carefully.

  After another hour, the rain stopped. Before she left, the old man gave her one seed of a bean. He said, ‘Anita, this is an unusual seed. Grow this and you will get a delicious vegetable. You can sell it in the market. This will fetch you more money since it will be a new kind of vegetable.’

  Anita thanked the old man, took the seed and went home.

  The next day, she planted the seed. Within a month, the seed grew into a creeper. Green beans began sprouting around it and shot upwards, but only till Anita’s hands could reach when she stood on tiptoe. The creeper, however, kept going up and up—so high that Anita couldn’t see where it ended.

  Since the vegetable was new and delicious, people bought her produce very quickly and she was able to sell all of it. Anita was happy with her earnings and was grateful for the good food and the repairs she could now do around the house.

  Now, lazy Jaggu became very curious about these new beans. He started getting up early, not to help his wife but to see and monitor the beanstalk. ‘How tall do you think the stalk is?’ he asked.

  ‘I don’t know and I am not interested. I get enough beans to sell at the market,’ she replied.

  Jaggu, however, kept pestering her. ‘Ask that old man to give you some more seeds,’ he suggested. ‘There are no seeds in these beans. But if the old man gives you some, we can plant many more and get rich.’

  ‘No, I am content with what we have now. Don’t be greedy, Jaggu. We have enough.’

  Jaggu gave up on her and went in search of the old man. The day that Anita had brought the seed home, she had told him about the house where she had met him. Soon enough, Jaggu found the house. But to his dismay, there was nobody inside.

  Perhaps I should climb the beanstalk instead and see how far up it goes, he thought. But I can’t do it when Anita is at home. She will surely try to stop me.

  So, he returned home and waited for Anita to leave the house. After a few days, Anita went to the market to sell the beans. The moment she left, Jaggu began climbing the beanstalk.

  After what seemed like hours, he reached the top and followed a trail to a house in the clouds.

  The door was closed.

  He knocked. Knock-knock-knock.

  A man’s voice asked, ‘Who is it? Why have you come here?’

  ‘Sir, I am Anita’s husband, Jaggu.’

  ‘What do you want?’

  Jaggu hesitated. Why should I ask for more beans? he thought. More beans means I’ll have to work hard and only then will I get the money. I’d rather ask for money straight away.

  So he said, ‘Money. I want money.’

  ‘Sure,’ said the voice. ‘Now go away.’

  Jaggu went back to the beanstal
k and climbed down all the way to the bottom. When he entered his house, he saw a box overflowing with money. Suddenly, he felt disappointed. ‘I should have asked for gold nuggets instead of money,’ he thought. ‘It would have been worth much more.’

  Anita came back home, but he didn’t tell her what had happened that day. Instead, he managed to get by with the money for a few days and waited for her to go to the market again so that he could climb up the beanstalk and ask for gold nuggets this time.

  But soon, he changed his mind. What is the use of nuggets? he thought to himself. Those are not important either. I must become the richest man in the village. That is the best way to trick the man who lives up there.

  The next time Anita went to the market, Jaggu climbed the beanstalk again. He reached the top and followed the trail to the house in the clouds.

  The door was closed.

  He knocked. Knock-knock-knock.

  A man’s voice asked, ‘Who is it? Why have you come here?’

  ‘Sir, I am Anita’s husband, Jaggu.’

  ‘What do you want?’

  ‘I want to be the richest person in the village.’

  ‘Sure,’ said the voice. ‘Now go away, and don’t come here again.’

  Jaggu climbed down, feeling happy and carefree. He knew he was going to be the richest person in the village, and he was.

  This time, he told Anita what had happened when she came back home. Anita wasn’t pleased.

  ‘I don’t want to participate or use the money that you have received in this way. Do what you want, but leave me out of it,’ she replied.

  Jaggu was least bothered. He began wondering what he should do now that he was rich. He began inviting other rich people of the village to his house for meals.

  Anita refused to join in and continued her work quietly.

  One day, Jaggu hosted a big dinner for all his new friends in his new palatial house. However, they declined because they had another invitation for the same day. All of them said, ‘The king is coming to the village. So we must accept his dinner invitation first.’