Something to Crow About: A Collection of Short Stories and Parables

Verily, everybody has a tale to tell, a tale of sorrow, of joy, a tale of success and failure, of tidings from the son abroad, and of the infant- grand-son's prattle, a tale of quarrelsome neighbor and his shrewish wife, a tale of love and break-up, of a cunning and crafty boss and his ill- natured abusive consort; in short a tale of weal and woe. But where is the time for all of us to listen to anybody's tale. It is the story-teller who solves this dilemma. It is he who narrates stories, tells tales, appertaining good or bad happenings. There is no gainsaying the fact that life is a big or short tale between the birth and the death. And such tales which occur in our lives need to be told, and have been told.

Dr. C. D. Verma is a former Associate Professor, and Head, Department of English, Hans Raj College, a premier institution of Delhi University. During his four decades of long teaching career, he has written a number of books and articles. His articles have been published in leading magazines, newspapers and research journals. His books, The Gita in World Literature, The Exile Hero and The Reintegrating Vision, W.H. Auden (Selected Poems) Look Back in Anger and Mrs. Dallouvy (Sterling Publishers) have been widely acclaimed. His Latest book The Sermons in Stones (Untold legends of Temples and Towns, and Socio-cultural Stories), has been published by Amazon Kindle direct publishing.

A group of morning strollers, mostly comprising superannuated bureaucrats, technocrats, university dons, traders, shopkeepers, after taking a of rounds of the sprawling community park, eventually sit on benches. This is a common sight in almost every town, big or small. In their mutual interaction they discuss current affairs, gossip and cut jokes; and even exchange personal problems.

In fact, every human being, in whatever position or situation he may be, has a tale to tell: a tale of weal and woe, of quarrelsome neighbor, of shrewish daughter-in-law, of neglect by progenies, of fiscal problems, of dwindling business, and even of dog-fight between the strollers. There is no gainsaying the fact that life is a long or short tale between birth and death. And all that happens in life, makes a story.

Here is an example to substantiate the point. One of the morning walkers is three-score-and-ten, blear-eyed, almost shaking and muddled. He is as full of grief as age, wretched in both. He is like any other old man, an archetype of the aged persons, worn out of act, generally seen sitting on the benches in the parks, exchanging their mutural woes.

He rues the day he retired from government service, and decided to spend his service benefits - gratuity, Provideent Fund etc.. - on the construction of a house. Then he believed that a father was a banker provided by nature to his off-springs. And when he constructed the dwelling for his two sons, one a serving officer in a Union Ministry, and the other a business executive, he had the pride of achievement that the father-banker had invested his resources to fulfill his filial obliations, expecting a post-dated return in the form of raiment, bed, food and affectionate care from his progeny, when his old limbs lie lame.

It was the best of times, when we, as children, huddled together, after dinner, on the beds of "dadadadi" (grand -parents), half- covered ourselves in their quilts, or blankets, in winter, and assiduously listened to the stories narrated by them. In summer the scenario changed. We mounted their "charpoys," spread in the open court-yards, or on the roof. The "charpoys" draped in white bed-sheets, shimmering in the moonlight, presented an other-worldly sight.

Together, in unison, we insisted" Dadi, tell us a story." And she would never refuse. In gentle, soothing voice, she would begin her story, and transport us to a strange, magical world in distant lands. She invariably followed the traditional effective way of communication, and began her story: "Once upon a time," or "Ek tha raja," or she would interpose that the story appertains the times: "long, long ago when animals used to speak to men and men to animals." And with such beginnings. she would take us to quite another world, what Coleridge calls a world of" willing suspension of disbelief."

We eagerly listened to her stories. She would enthrall us as she spun yarns out of her imagination. By and large, her tales centered round mythology, folklore, kings and queens, birds, animals, strange magical and supernatural worlds of fairies, goblins, ogre, dragons.

**Contents and Sample Pages**