Date:07/05/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2009/05/07/stories/2009050750470400.htm

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Fabulous fables from a storyteller

Omair Ahmad’s The Storyteller’s Tale is rich in mythical aspects

PHOTO: BHAGYA PRAKASH K.

PART OF US Omair Ahmad

In writer Omair Ahmad’s house, poetry was recited and stories told. Omair used to watch ‘Alif Laila’, the TV series, which he feels was a combination of the Panchatantra and The Arabian Nights.

“As a child growing up in Saudi Arabia, I was exposed to folklore — Greek and Roman mythology, Islamic stories, and while at boarding school, I read a lot of the Bible.” He says that The Storyteller’s Tale, which is based loosely on the 18th Century poet Mir Taqi Mir, is very different when compared to his first novel. “My first novel was contemporary, written in the first person and has no aspect of the fable.”

The Storyteller’s Tale, a novella published by Penguin is set in the 1700s at a time when the forces of Ahmad Shah Abdali destroyed Delhi.

The Delhi-based writer says that stories told to him in his childhood were deeply influential.

“The stories read out to me stayed in my mind. And we are to some degree, an output of the story.”

Delhi, he says is a city where there is an exchange of stories. “Immigrants, who come to this large cosmopolitan city, come with their stories.

“From the 8th to the 18th centuries, it has played host to people who have come from different parts of the world. In this, it has heard different stories that have combined and merged.”

He says in this exchange of stories, a new reality is created. “Delhi is like a woman that a poet courts. It is a very open city that recognises the talent of confident people.”

Omair feels that now, people are not willing to hear stories or the other side of the story. “From the dictators of the world to modern-day foreign policies of Western countries, we resort to violence before talking. We are unwilling to listen, and in doing this we have become less human.”

In the exchange of stories between the storyteller and the begum in the novella, Omair points out that it does not become a compromise for either.

“The storyteller’s stories become bigger and fuller. There is a difference between an argument and a conversation. Two people having a conversation need each other to tell a fuller story.”

AYESHA MATTHAN