Sharath Komarraju's Blog, page 51

12 Great Mahabharata Stories From the Adi Parva to Instantly Elevate Your Spirit

Today I sat down to write yet another post of Mahabharata stories, and I asked myself: why not begin at the beginning? Why not categorize these posts by parva so that by the end, we will have one big repository to refer to whenever we wanted?

Why not indeed? So I said: let me, for now, put together a post containing my favourite Mahabharata stories from the Adi Parva, and then I can do a post each for all the other eighteen parvas as well.

And here’s the result. From mighty eggs to ho...

26 Epic Stories From Mahabharata That Kids (of all ages) Will Love

You know the first thing my daughter (five) says after I finish telling her a Mahabharata story?

‘One more!’

Doesn’t matter if she’s hungry, sleepy, tired… or all three together. There’s always time for ‘one more!’

If you have children with a similarly voracious appetite, and if you’re looking for a repository of stories from Mahabharata that you could dip into whenever they say ‘one more!’, you have come to the right place.

In this post I’ve put together 26 of my go-to Mahabha...

25 Fun Stories From The Mahabharata That Will Light Up Your Day

Can I tell you something?

One true statement to kick off this post.

It may sound bold. Cocky, even. But you know what the wise old men of the world have said: if a truth is not bold, it is not worth telling.

So here goes: your search for stories from the Mahabharata ends today.

In fact, it may have already ended the moment you clicked on the link that brought you here.

(Combine this with our 26 Epic Stories from Mahabharata post to double down on the fun.)

Now I know what ...

25 Fun Stories From the Mahabharata That Will Light Up Your Day

Can I tell you something?

One true statement to kick off this post.

It may sound bold. Cocky, even. But you know what the wise old men of the world have said: if a truth is not bold, it is not worth telling.

So here goes: your search for stories from the Mahabharata ends today.

In fact, it may have already ended the moment you clicked on the link that brought you here.

Now I know what you’re thinking. Dude wrote a post with 25 stories and thinks he has covered the whole Mahab...

Sunday Story 27: Reclaiming Ellamma

‘SHASTRI,’ SAID AZGHER to Rama Shastri as the two of them sat on the granite floor of the shivalayam, under the biggest of the five bells hanging from the roof just outside the inner sanctum. The February sun was about to set, and a steady breeze blew their way from the direction of Ellamma Cheruvu. It had been a hot and cloudless day, one on which Azgher had had to cycle his way around Palem to fulfil his agarbathi orders. On such days his thighs ached, his knees clicked, and his lower back...

Sunday Story 26: Disruptor

UNCLE BHALERAO HAD a way of whooshing into rooms. He was a large man, and not even his closest friends would call him a nimble mover on two feet, especially while carrying his black umbrella, and taking utmost care with the ends of his cream-white dhoti to keep it off the muddy paths of Palem. Like any man with much to lose, he navigated his surroundings with care and caution.

Despite this, after he had come and gone, witnesses had been known to describe him in words usually reserved for ...

Sunday Story 25: English Teacher

WHEN KALYANI, THE first-ranking student of Class Ten walked into the staffroom, Matthew put aside the paperwork he was pretending to work on, and cast a wary glance around himself at the empty desks and chairs. It was the second week of June, the fourth day of the school year. The old round clock perched above the Sarvepalli Radhakrishna portrait on the wall showed ten minutes past five. Both the tube lights in the room were on because low rainclouds had gathered in the sky, bringing with th...

Sunday Story 24: Lest We Remember

‘I don’t need to tell you the exact memory.’

‘No.’

‘Is there any way you can know – after I am gone?’

‘No.’

‘The machine – it doesn’t have a log or something? It doesn’t remember?’

‘It doesn’t remember.’

‘Okay. Okay. So I go in there – and take the chair – and slide my head into the slot – heh, this feels like I am reciting a lesson to a teacher – and then when I am ready – I flick the red switch. Correct?’

‘Yes.’

‘And if I feel like I cannot –’

‘You touch the gree...

Sunday Story 23: Panchayati

PRAKASH PAI, THE forty-eight year old sole proprietor of Savitri Studios – the second-biggest film production house in the state of Andhra Pradesh, headquartered in Hyderabad – glanced at Sister Agnes and thought to himself, again: heroine.

The priest with the triangular head was a character artist; perhaps he could be trusted to play the role of a comedian in a low-budget affair. The mullah – skull cap, powdered white beard, shifting green eyes that never stopped to focus on anything for...

Sunday Story 22: Sampangi

THROUGH THE SQUARE window of the kitchen of Babai Hotel, Sampangi looked out at the seating area. Babu Ram was taking the woman’s order, and he didn’t seem to be in any hurry about it. She waved her arm in that urban way of hers, and tilted her head just so, in order that her hangings glinted in the afternoon light. Her legs were crossed, of course, underneath her maroon-coloured skirt that came down to her ankles. Just the other day Sampangi had dreamed of this woman and Babu Ram dancing in...