Those magical, magical days…..

While I was chatting with a few friends of mine, at night, a memory long buried popped up in my head and demanded attention. And I asked The Writer, when I didn’t think he would know a thing about it, let alone remember it;

“Did you in your childhood read/heard the story Podna Podni?”

And as a reply, I got an excerpt from the story itself. He remembered the full story word for word. We went on discussing our favorite parts of the story. Mine was

“Guhs guhs mere kaan mein guhs” :P

(While on another window I started narrating the whole Podna Podni story to a friend, who had somehow missed it in her childhood).

This is a story I heard in Kassette Kahani. I don’t know how many of you have spent your childhood hearing these Kassette Kahani’s but I know a major part of mine was spent listening, and relistening to them. Always getting my parents to buy me the volumes I didn’t already have. Each Kassette Kahani would have an advertisment of the Kassette next in the series, and then I would want that one too. Traded it with friends just so that I could hear the entire collection. Although some of these stories were the Urdu translation of fairy tales like “Jack and the Beanstalk” and “Cinderella”, these would be the ones I have had had a pleasure of reading as well, but hearing it was another kind of magic.

In the Kassette, the story of Podna Podni is narrated by a Nani amaan to little kids.

For those of you who are wondering; Podna is the name of a little bird (am not sure what the English word for Podna is, was it Sparrow?) Anyways, the King’s men caught Podni and then Podna sets out on a mission to rescue his Podni from “Raja”. Along the way, he meets ants, ocean.. and something else, I still can’t remember what the third thing was, these three after hearing Podna’s noble mission, offers him their help, in reply to which, Podna says;

“Guhs guhs mere kaan mein guhs”

In the end, of course, like all kid’s stories, Podna rescues Podni from Raja with the help of his three friends…

This post is in the memory of all those days, we spent reading and hearing fairy tales. The time long gone, but which still gives pleasure. Those were truly the days… :D