The Stories We Tell
by Mridula Kaul
Hello hello people!! I love stories, all kinds of stories - reading, listening and most of all, telling them, getting deep into the skin of each character and trying to be and even speak like them!! I think story telling is incredibly powerful. When you narrate classic and new tales or make up your own as you go, you make your kid/s understand the power of the written and spoken word but most importantly you create precious, unforgettable memories that both you and they will cherish forever 😍😍 So I hope that both parents and children alike will listen to and enjoy this podcast together! 🙏🤗
Episodes
-
The Navaratris (nine nights) and Nav Durga (nine forms of the Goddess Durga)
Hello hello lovely earthlings, I don’t know how long it’s been since I shared some stories but I decided that enough is enough and that it is time to get out of my hiatus :-) so here we are with a 9 episode series on the beautiful festival of the Navaratras (nine nights) and the nine forms of the...
-
Just So stories for kids by Rudyard Kipling
The Elephant’s child: Hello hello my lovely people! How are you today? I was about to ‘Hope you’re well’ you and then realised that it’s the last thing you want to hear if you’re not that well. So all i just want to say that I’m so happy if you’re well but equally I feel you if you’re not that…
more -
Vikramaditya - Amar Chitra Katha series -
Hello hello lovely people! I hope you are all well and keeping warm if you, like me, are in the U.K because it is freezing at the moment!! Nothing helps me feel better than reading a book so I thought I would continue with the Amar Chitra Katha series and give you a glimpse of the beloved...
-
Raman the Matchless Wit - Amar Chitra Katha series
Hello earthlings!!! How are we all? I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy happy new year and I hope that 2022 brings you good health, abundance (of all the good things) and sees you doing all the things you didn’t, couldn’t or weren’t able to do. I honestly cannot believe...
-
The Flute Player by Ruskin Bond
When the heart is heavy and I am lost, I head for the love and comfort of the only place I know outside of my Mama’s welcoming arms - books. They hug me in their warmth and offer me solace and when it’s a book written by my all time favourite other Bond, Ruskin Bond, it’s all the more special. As…
more -
The It-Doesn’t-Matter-Suit by Sylvia Plath
Hello lovely folks!! Hope you’ve been well. There seems to be light at the end of the COVID tunnel it appears, hallelujah! 🙏🙏🙏😍😍🌺🌺 Thank you Lord! Today we are going to pay tribute to the incredibly talented Sylvia Plath who has given the world of literature some spectacular gems. It is so...
-
Myths from across the world
Happy World Book Day lovely earthlings! There’s so much I want to say on this hallowed day but for now all I will say is stay calm and read on, in this case, listen on! I hope you find magic in places you least expect and on that note, here are some stories of magical mythology from across the...
-
Ranji’s Wonderful Bat from At School with Ruskin Bond
Helllo lovely folks and happy Thank-God-it’s-not-Monday-and-just-two-days-from-being-Friday :-))) 💥🤣🤣💪🏼💪🏼👍🏼👍🏼 Hope you are keeping your spirits up and finding things that spark joy and love in your hearts to keep you going during this time that seems to be an extension of another...
-
Stephen Hawking - Cosmologist who gets. Big Bang out of the Universe
"I am just a child who has never grown up. I still keep asking these 'how' and 'why' questions. Occasionally, I find an answer." Simple yet profound words from a man who refused to give up and whose relentless thirst for knowledge led to some great answers. Stephen Hawking, one of the most…
more -
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse by Charlie Mackesy
Hello dahlings!!! For those of that know me, you know how much I absolutely LOVE telling stories but when it’s on the last day of a year that has been so spectacularly surreal and indescribable, you know that you can’t bid it farewell and wait to bring in 2021, with just any book. And so it had…
more -
Cinnamon by Neil Gaiman
Two sleeps to go oh wise earthlings! And since I’m being ridiculously lazy, it stands to reason that I just upload a story I recorded the day before our wonderful kids were going back to school after a long summer of spring and summer term home schooling, here in the U.K. I know that so many...
-
The best of Ruskin Bond - The Big Race, Chachi’s funeral and We capture a ghost
Hola, Namaste, greetings lovely folks! Hope you’re well and are looking forward to bid farewell to this, what shall we call it, interesting year?! :-)) Just 3 more sleeps and we will enter 2021! A year, I know, that will hold hope, good health, joy and abundance for us all. So as this year draws…
more -
‘Twas the night before Christmas - Clement Clark Moore
Hello lovely earthlings! It’s Christmas Eve so how can one have anything other than this classic poem by Clement Clark Moore. It’s a strange Christmas I know. Some of us may be lucky enough to be with our loved ones, others not. But the most important thing is that we are all safe and healthy and...
-
Little Gretchen and the Wooden Shoe by Elizabeth Harrison
Hello my lovely earthlings!! As promised, this week is all about Christmas tales so here goes a short and sweet story about the importance of being kind and respectful and knowing that there is no bigger wealth than those values 🙏🙏🤗🤗🤗🔆🔆🎁🗝🗝🔑🔑💰💰💰 Not long to go how, enjoy your…
more -
The History of Boxing Day
Hello folksy folks who are mostly home because......no I’m not going to say the awful virus’ name again 🙄🙄 I hope you’re all well and kids, I hope you’re enjoying your holidays because who knows what’s going to happen ahead?! Ok ok I’m kidding 😍😍🤣🤣🎉🎉🎄🎄 Little Miss A asked me why Boxing...
-
The fir tree by Hans Christian Andersen
Not long for Christmas now!! So as promised, in the lead up to the big day, I’m going to be sharing stories that are centred on or around the theme of Christmas, it’s spirit and this time of year. This story is one that is told by the master story writer, Hans Christian Andersen so naturally you...
-
Old Cherokee tale of The Lion and The Wolf
Hello folks !!! Hope you’re well and have had a fabulous weekend. How are you all feeling as the festive season is fast approaching? Are you feeling overwhelmed with everything around you, filled with a sense of uncertainty, fear, frustration and envy or is your heart full with contentment, joy…
more -
Secret Seven Adventure by Enid Blyton
Is there anyone in the world who hasn’t heard of Enid Blyton? If you haven’t, you’ve definitely been living under a very large rock (😬😬😂😂🪨🪨🪨🪨) but if you have, you will most certainly agree that her writing will have influenced you in some way or the other, whether it is a love of scones...
-
When Daddy was a little boy by Alexander Raskin
Hello my lovely people of this world, hope you’re well! Hope you’ve been reading books or listening to books or making someone listen to books or all of the above, given that the weather leaves little option to do much else and also because what can be more fun than curling up with a book and a…
more -
Tales of Tenali Rama (and revisiting Akbar Birbal)
Hello lovely people! Hope you’re well and making the best of the time we live in by reading, writing, exercising, volunteering, cooking, watching movies, making movies even and any such thing that sparks joy in your life 🤗🤗 A lot of you have messaged me and sent me heaps of good feedback on the...
-
Hotel Flamingo - Fabulous Feast by Alex Milway
Hello lovely jubblies! Hope you’re all having a fabulous weekend full of fabulous things to do and fabulous food with fabulous company in the absence of other fabulous things to do 😂😂 It’s only fair then that today’s story is a fabulous one! 👊🏼👊🏼😃😃 Yes, at the request of a lovely young...
-
Best of Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
Hello, Hola, Namaste, Salutations oh wonderful people! Hope you’re well and are getting ready to embrace Autumn 🍂🍂🍁🍁 The Corona virus is still dominating the news and our lives but how lucky we are to have roofs over our heads, hot food on our tables, good health on our side and family and...
-
Dr Seuss - Oh the places you’ll go!!
Hello lovely peepuls, hope you’re well! We’ve been incredibly lucky to have been blessed with the last shards of summer here in the UK before autumn well and truly sets in. What a difference it makes isn’t it? Everything seems betterer and worthwhiler :-) The leaves aren’t yet quite leaving but…
more -
Sci-Fi
Hola peeps!!! Hope you’re well! It’s been a month since I last posted an episode - apologies for the radio silence but life has been travelling at full speed and not always in the right direction :-))) I was all set to make a grand re-entry and had written a lovely, long and detailed blurb on…
more -
Hansel and Gretel by The Brothers Grimm
Hello hello lovely people!! Hope you are all doing wonderfully well and enjoying the summer holidays! It’s been a while since I uploaded a story so I decided today is as good a day as any other to do this :-) and what better to get back to it than with a story I heard and read a hundred times as…
more -
Little People Big Dreams - Maya Angelou and Audrey Hepburn
Hello my lovely people. As I mentioned in my episode uploaded just before this one featuring the very large, the very strong and the very lazy lion Shanumugam, I’ve been on a trip down memory lane today, going through the hundreds of recordings on my phone and happened to stumble upon these two...
-
Snoring Shanumugam - Radhika Chadha
Hello hello small and big humans! Hope you’re well and have had a good weekend :-) I was rummaging through all my old audio recordings and stumbled upon this one from a long long time ago or as Anikka used to say when she was very small - long time back ago 🥰🥰 Sigh, how time flies ...... So…
more -
Ruskin Bond - The Hidden Pool
Hello hello wonderful folks and folklets! Hope you’ve been enjoying the hot spell of sunshine 🌞 I know it might be too warm for many of you but for me, this is probably exactly where my Indian bones want to be now as I think of home and the familiarity, warmth and love it holds. Only fitting…
more -
Good night stories for Rebel Girls - Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo
Hello wonderful earthlings! Hope you’re well and enjoying each day that presents itself in the best way possible 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼🤗🤗🤗💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻💐💐🌞🌞This fabulously put together book is a collection of “100 tales of extraordinary women” ranging from Ada Lovelace to Rani Lakshmibai, Astrid...
-
Ruskin Bond - The Boy who Broke the Bank from The a Room of Many Colours
Hello good folks! Welcome to another edition of The Stories we Tell! Today’s wonderful, simple and completely tale tells us something which is quite relevant in today’s times - the creation and distribution of ‘fake news’ :-) I hope this piques your interest and you’ll enjoy listening to this…
more -
Rumi for kids - What shape is an elephant?
Hello hello, ye wandering book lovers! How are we today? From today, I’m going to start another series on everyday philosophy for kids by the great thinker, Rumi. Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi was born in Balkh Persia in what is now Afghanistan in 1207, that’s like mannnnnnnnnyyy...
-
Ruskin Bond - Upon an old wall dreaming, The Thief and These Simple Things.
Hello hello lovely peeps, it’s been a dreadfully long time but I’m back with more stories and a poem too for good measure this time. Of course I had to mark my return with the name’s Bond, Ruskin Bond (and you’ll hear some cheesy stuff in the course of the stories 🤣) which will make you chuckle...
-
Don’t panic Annika! by Juliet Clare Bell
Hello hello smalls and not so smalls! Hope you’re all well and managed to soak in some well deserved Vitamin D in the sunshine xx Today’s story is special for a variety of reasons not least because the main character’s name is Annika which is why I bought the book in the first instance and…
more -
The Little Miss and Mr Men series by Roger Hargreaves
Hello hello lovely people! Hope you’re well! Do you have a few special children’s books in your life that you can never outgrow, no matter how old you are? That kind is just so special, right? If you’re a kid, you can read them when you’re older and laugh at the silly things you laughed at when…
more -
Hindi Stories - Gillu by Mahadevi Verma
Like all of us, my childhood too was filled with stories. My earliest recollections are of my beautiful Mama telling me stories at bed time or even meal times, in her lustrous voice. My love for stories only grew steadily from then on. I devoured books outside of school. Strangely, although Mama...
-
Ruskin Bond - Faraway Places from the Room of Many Colours
I thought it would be appropriate to call it a night with this beautiful story, Faraway Places from Room of Many Colours. Faraway Places describes the strong desire in a young boy Anil to travel great distances to faraway ports in a steamer. At a time when we are confined to our homes (foe the...
-
Ruskin Bond - Grandfather’s Many Faces from the Parrot who wouldn’t talk and other stories
And yes, no session can be complete without a Ruskin Bond story so before I retire for the night, I give you a double dose of one of my favourite authors of all time - no doubt, you’ve gathered that if you’ve been listening to my stories on this podcast :-)) 🤗🤗👏🏼👏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🌈🌈😍😍...
-
Akbar Birbal Stories
And this after another day of unexpected April sunshine which meant a brilliant day in the garden eating way too much, dancing away to great beats and much excitement leading to obviously, a late night again :-)) Anikka reads Punishment or Reward in her poshest accent as I, as always, like Mums…
more -
Akbar Birbal Stories
Hiya peeps, how are we doing today? We were afflicted by a massive bout of the giggles while reading this session so hope you giggle along with us as you hear today’s 3 stories - The Mango Seed, Like Father Like Daughter and The Other Guest. Enjoy and happy listening 🤣🤣 🌈🌈💕🙏🏼
-
Akbar Birbal Stories
Hello hello you lovely people :-)) We are back from flashback to current times when it was a really hot Sunday only a couple of weekends back - do you remember that warm Sunday? I’m sure you had a cracking BBQ at home and enjoyed yourself thoroughly…
more -
Akbar Birbal Stories
Hola there, kids and adults :-)) I hope you’ve all been well and making the most of this inexplicable time. I hope you’ve been reading lots and expanding your horizons 🙏🤗 Today’s episode has been read entirely by my daughter who was not quite 8 then (you see I’ve been collecting and recording...
-
Ruskin Bond - Bitter Gooseberries from Uncles, Aunts and Elephants
If you haven’t yet realised, you soon will, that I am a huuuuugggggeeeeee fan of Ruskin Bond. I love the simplicity of his writing and I love how he can connect almost instantaneously with the reader at so many levels! Today’s story is one that I will cherish forever - Ani and I had such a blast...
-
The Inimitable Ruskin Bond - A Tiger in the House and The Night the Roof blew off
One of my absolutely favouritest authors in the world, Ruskin Bond charms with his simple and lucid writing. His stories are endearing and heart warming, often laugh out loud funny and sometimes slightly scary but they never cease to keep the reader engaged making him or her fall more in love…
more -
Akbar Birbal Stories
Welcome back kids and adults alike I hope :-)) For kids, I hope you’ll have oodles of fun. For parents, I hope you’re looking forward to the weekend so you can put your feet up. I hope these stories will give you the choice to relax a little in the knowledge that the kids will have something to...
-
Akbar Birbal Stories
Hello folks! I hope you’re savouring the sunshine a bit and are trying to find small reasons to smile. I know it’s not easy but if our hearts are full of gratitude and kindness, a lot can be achieved. I’m trying to keep your mood as upbeat as possible so here’s the next instalment of Akbar Birbal...
-
Akbar Birbal tales
Well hello there! I hope you’ve been staying positive and trying to find joy in the small things because frankly sometimes that’s all we can do 👏🏼👏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼😍🌈 I’ve got three more wonderful stories for you from the Akbar Birbal collection - Crows in the Kingdom, Birbal’s khichdi and Four...
-
Akbar Birbal stories
Hey hey you lovely people! How’s the mood today? Did you have a chance to listen to the first 4 stories from the wonderful Akar Birbal collection? If you did, I’m sure you have started to get an idea of how witty our friend Birbal is! Today we have Akbar’s Lost Ring and the Merchant and the…
more -
Akbar Birbal Stories
Hello little and big humans! How are you all? I hope you’ve enjoyed the last series of Indian tales, Panchatantra, that we grew up listening to. This series is another wonderful collection of stories that talk of wit, kindness and quick wittedness, the famous and extremely popular Akbar Birbal...
-
Favourite stories from the Panchatantra tales
And with today’s stories - The Brahmin and the Goat and the Hunter and the Doves, we come to the end of the 15 story compilation of our much loved Panchatantra stories. I’ve had the best time reading these stories with Anikka and sharing them with you. And I And I can’t wait to share a new series...
-
Favourite stories from Panchatantra tales
Hello kiddos! What have you been upto these days? The times we live in are strange and not everything makes sense. It can be hard to not be able to be outside, meet your friends, skip around with gay abandon and do things that you have taken for granted. But it’s the right thing to do if we want…
more
About this show
Hello hello people!! I love stories, all kinds of stories - reading, listening and most of all, telling them, getting deep into the skin of each character and trying to be and even speak like them!! I think story telling is incredibly powerful. When you narrate classic and new tales or make up your own as you go, you make your kid/s understand the power of the written and spoken word but most importantly you create precious, unforgettable memories that both you and they will cherish forever 😍😍 So I hope that both parents and children alike will listen to and enjoy this podcast together! 🙏🤗
Hosted by
Mridula Kaul