Episodes
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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 Supreme mother Goddess - Durga / Shakti. As we welcome Ma (Mother) into our homes, we will aim to understand the significance of not simply worshipping the divine but recognising that we ARE divinity ourselves and all that we seek is truly within. Alright alright, I am sensing a lot of enlightenment which is prompting me to say deeply spiritual and existential things for which I make no apologies :-))) I hope you enjoy this series - I will drop a new episode each day so I look forward to your love. Stay blessed and joyful always!! Much love, see you soon!! β€οΈ
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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 well and that it’s ok to feel like that. Be kind to yourself please - no one is here to judge so just please take some time out to live yourself, unwind and perhaps listen to a few stories because stories can heal. That’s what my dear friend Sonia keeps reminding me of and I am so grateful to her for her love and encouragement and grace and so I dedicate this episode to her today as she feels poorly today. I hope that this simple, light as air story by the inimitable Rudyard Kipling (written in 1902 starting off its life as bedtime stories told to his little girl Josephine ‘just so’) makes you smile just like your words make everyone who read them, fill up with joy and emotion. Get well soon my friend! To all my little friends and their Mums and Dads who are listening to this, thank you for your support and for listening always. Stay healthy, stay safe, read a lot, listen to music and stories and don’t forget to be fully, freely and wholly yourselves. All my love, M xx
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Episodes manquant?
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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 publication we grew up reading! Today’s story is about a valiant, just and honourable young prince who went on to become an extraordinary powerful and successful king whose empire extended beyond the Hindu Kush mountains. I hope you enjoy hearing this story and I look forward to sharing more from the ACK stables!! In the meantime, stay safe, keep smiling, read and listen to all the things that make you joyful and take care of yourselves! Much love and moonshine, Me xx
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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 that this is my first episode after May 2021 - in many ways, 2021 felt so much more difficult for so many more reasons and motivation was at an all time low. I hope to remedy all that and publish more regularly! For now though, a slice of comfort and of my childhood for those times when you most need it π€ This episode is dedicated to one of my most favourite boys, Roy Ganguly who is currently poorly with what else (eye rollπ) and needs loads of TLC and many stories!! I hope you all enjoy it especially if you’re unwell or just feeling meh and I certainly hope Raman, the smart and funny court jester in King Krishnadevaraya’s kingdom of Vijayanagar (south India) from many moons back, brings a little bit of sunshine to your day with his wit and quick thinking! Stay well, stay joyful and keep reading my lovely people! Toodles!! π€π€β€οΈβ€οΈ
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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 I think and pray for my country, reading his words allows me to feel closer to my homeland, even when I’m thousands of miles away. Wishing that all this ends soon and that there is light at the end of the tunnel for humanity as a whole. Praying for respite, healing and recovery for my country and its lovely people. I hope you enjoy hearing this story - my apologies for more than a few slip ups while reading, I was too exhausted to retake those bits and have just kept the unedited version. Stay safe everyone, for my peeps in India. stay home if you don’t need to absolutely head out, mask up and please practise social distancing. Keep reading and keep staying positive - we will get over this together β€οΈβ€οΈππππ
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Hello lovely folks!! Hope you’ve been well. There seems to be light at the end of the COVID tunnel it appears, hallelujah! ππππππΊπΊ 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 tragic that she passed on so young but today I want to remember her with fondness and heaps of joy as I re-read this most wonderful story about fitting in, that is applicable to both children and adults alike, as a dedication to one of Ani’s besties and one of my favourite girls who has just turned 10 today. Happy birthday Avni, I wish you joy, love, lots of books, cake and I hope for all you kids that you do what’s right for you and what makes you happy - don’t try to conform to either what others do or to what you think others expect from you! Stay safe, stay sane, keep reading and remember it really doesn’t matter :-) β€οΈβ€οΈπππΊπΊπΊπππ§π»βοΈππππ
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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 world. The first two episodes from Anita Nair’s brilliantly written and compiled Magical Indian myths β€οΈβ€οΈβ‘οΈβ‘οΈ and the first episode has a mystery guest from the USA ππ I hope you enjoy it! Stay safe, stay healthy, make magical memories and carry on reading!! #worldbookday2021 #everydayisbookday #storytelling #worldmythology #magicalindianmyths #booksgivemelife
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Helllo lovely folks and happy Thank-God-it’s-not-Monday-and-just-two-days-from-being-Friday :-))) π₯π€£π€£πͺπΌπͺπΌππΌππΌ 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 (lockdown) time except with no real clarity :-) But hey ho, we plough on and think of happy things and today’s definitely a day to rejoice as it’s the 9th birthday of a dear friend’s daughter who is my daughter’s namesake and one of my favourite little people in this world πππππ So naturally, this story is dedicated to you darling Anika. Happy birthday sweetheart - I wish you magic, love, happiness, adventure and heaps of stardust. Dream big and conquer the world !!! And remember to always believe in yourself and be full of inner confidence! Hope you and all the little and big people listening to this story will enjoy it and take some amazing life lessons from the collection of Mr. Bond’s many treasures π€π€π€ππππππ Stay safe all, keep reading and treasure all the happiness you can find ππΌππͺπΌπ #birthdaydedication #ruskinbond #lifelessons #confidence #selfbelief #storiesforfamilies
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"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 beloved scientists in the world was born on 8th January 1942 and lived on till the age of 76 (defying death even as he was diagnosed with ALS at only 21 and given just a couple of years to live!) discovering amazing things and helping find answers to questions that had long baffled scientists. Listen on to hear his story, written in 2009, so still referring to him in the present tense. Symbolic almost as he and his work live on in everyone’s hearts and minds. I hope you enjoy it! Until we meet again, stay safe, stay curious and keep on reading ! Toodles ππππππ
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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 to be The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse for its deeply endearing profundity and simple yet lasting life lessons. Thank you to the wonderful Mr Mackesy for the gift of his words, thoughts and magical illustrations. I hope I’ve been able to do even a little justice to them through this narration.
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Happy new year peeps! Here’s wishing us joy, hope, good health, non Zoom meetings with family, friends and colleagues, the ability to look for and find silver linings, the courage to ask for help when we need it and the knowledge that we will all get where we need to in the end. Thank you to each one of you for the love you’ve showered on what started off simply as a means to record and consolidate memories. I am so deeply grateful to everyone of you that takes the time to hear the accents, giggles, commentary and exchange of ideas that take place when I read to and with my now 10 year old. Thank you ππππππππππ My heart is full! Stay safe, stay happy, keep reading, listening to and telling your own stories. Cheers to you all and to 2021 πππππΎπΎπΎπΎ
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#nye2020 #abookadaykeepsanxietyaway #booksforall #lifelessons #keepreading #bekindtoyourself -
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 students are still learning online all over the world and I hope you can all go back to meeting your incredible teachers and fabulous friends in school, very very soon in the new year. In the meantime, keep reading and do show some love to the exceptional Neil Gaiman in this lovely little story, Cinnamon. It's a story he wrote about 20 years ago, inspired by a Lisa Snellings carousel sculpture of a girl called Cinnamon, with pearlescent eyes, riding on a Tiger. Neil Gaiman is English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, nonfiction, audio theatre, and films. His works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book. He has won numerous awards, including the Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker awards, as well as the Newbery and Carnegie medals. He is the first author to win both the Newbery and the Carnegie medals for the same work, The Graveyard Book (2008). Until we meet again, sleep tight, stay safe, read loads and don’t let COVID get ahead :-) much love, toodles! π€π€π₯π₯πͺπ»ππΌ
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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 to a close, I would like to bring it to a close with some of my favourite authors and stories. Those of you that know me will know therefore that this means stories from my all time favourite ever, the inimitable Ruskin Bond. These are all stories I have recorded a while back but not had a chance to upload. Nonetheless, their appeal is timeless and I hope that you will enjoy and savour them as much as Ani and I do. Stay safe peeps, stay well, happy and do please show some love to your books and this podcast - just 4000 more plays to make bring it to 10,000 listens π€π€π€πππππͺπΌπͺπΌπͺπΌπͺπΌπ₯π₯π₯π₯π₯ππππππππ
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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 have the love and warmth of the ones in our heart. I wish us all the ability to find joy in the simple things, warmth in our hearts and kindness to share and give in spades. Have a beautiful evening and see you all tomorrow! Enjoy your holidays, good tidings all cx πππππ π»π π»π π»ππππ #twasthenightbeforechristmas #ccm #poems #festiveholidays #staysafe
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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 πππ€π€π€ππππππππ°π°π° Not long to go how, enjoy your festive break and remember to always have gratitude in your heart and a smile on your face for others πππππππ€π€ Stay safe, stay happy, keep reading and enjoy this time with family and loved ones πππππππππ #tistalwaystheseasontogive #lovebooks #christmastories #festiveholidays #kidstories
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Hello folksy folks who are mostly home because......no I’m not going to say the awful virus’ name again ππ 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 πππ€£π€£ππππ Little Miss A asked me why Boxing Day has been given the name it has. Is it because people boxed each other on the day? Or did they wear boxer shorts the day after Christmas? Listen to this episode to know more! Stay safe, stay home, keep reading and please do give heaps of love to this podcast that loves to bring you all kinds of stories that fill your heart with a little mirth, a little fun, a little tear and a whole lot of happiness and love. πππͺπΌπͺπΌπππ oh and by the way, I have not one but two guests today from different parts of the world so do enjoy their varied accents and let me know what you think :-) #happyholidays #keepreading #loveofbooks #itsbeginningtolookalotlikechristmas #joytotheworld
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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 can expect that there may not always be happy ending in the traditional sense of the term. It is still a beautiful tale of gratitude, happiness and eventually hope. Merry Christmas in advance! Stay safe, stay home and read lots of books as you enjoy the warmth indoors and the love of books and your families π€π€π€ππππππππΌπΌ #wintertales #hanschristianandersen #christmas #storiesforkids #lovereading
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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 and gratitude, in the main? I must confess that it’s not been easy for me on many levels but the key grounders have been the feelings of Acceptance, acknowledgment and gratitude. This story of the two wolves has been on I’ve read and re-read many times over. I’ve drawn inspiration from it personally and used it to give strength to my now 10 year old and many friends too. This version is my take on this timeless tale. I hope you too will find something to take away that will fill you with the strength, resilience and joy that you are seeking today. Have a beautiful Sunday. Stay safe, stay happy and keep reading πππππππππππππππ #cherokeetale #lifelessons #readmore #thewolfandthelion #acceptance #lookinside
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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 (π¬π¬πππͺ¨πͺ¨πͺ¨πͺ¨) 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 and strawberries and cream (even without knowing what a scone was, growing up in India at that time π¬) or a love of some sort of adventure entailing a curious dog among other things :-) Lately I’ve found myself sharing with you all, memories of the books I read many moons back. The Secret Seven series by Enid Blyton is one such vivid set of memories and today’s episode, The Secret Seven Adventure, albeit very long, is a labour of love, recorded a while back for the 10th birthday of a special little girl but only uploaded today. Happy 10th Sara, I hope you enjoy it and that it’s worth the wait for you. For all other kids and the parents belonging to them, I hope you will enjoy this too and it brings a smile to your face. By golly, have a wonderful evening all! Stay safe, stay warm and keep on reading, toodles! ππππΌππΌπ«π«ππππ
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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 hot beverage πππππ―π―π― Even more heartwarming is the experience of sitting with a book that is like a one way ticket to your childhood. This book, for me, is one of them. I won it as a ‘General Proficiency’ award (yes we had those weird and wonderful things when we were growing up ππΌππΌππΌπππ€π€π₯π₯ππΌππΌπͺπ»πͺπ»β£οΈ) when I was in Grade 4 and I still remember how proud and happy it made me. I read the book over and over again while I was growing up and the. Of course forgot all about it until my Mum brought it with me during one of her visits to the U.K. and handed it over to me after my daughter was born. Even then, I never thought to read it much until recently and Anikka has loved it so much that we are now reading a couple of stories every night. It’s a simple book - a loving Dad who wants to make his often poorly child feel better so retells her stories of his own childhood. The translation isn’t great but the premise is so simple and it’s reassuring for kids to know that their parents were children too at one time and did all the things they now ask their wonderful kids not to :-) I hope you enjoy these little stories as much as I’ve loved reading them. Stay safe, keep reading, take care and don’t forget to be grateful for all the small things ππΌππΌππΌβ£οΈβ£οΈβ£οΈπ₯°π₯°π₯°π₯°πΌπΌπΌππππππ
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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 π€π€ A lot of you have messaged me and sent me heaps of good feedback on the Indian stories I had shared - both Panchatantra and Akbar Birbal. Thank you so much for your encouragement, it means the world to me! I was putting off reading more such stories when one of my favourite little people in the world, young Master Roy Ganguli, asked me for some Akbar Birbal and ‘similar stuff’ for his birthday. I can never say no to a birthday dedication especially for someone I’m so fond of so this episode has a couple of old Akbar Birbal stories and a brand new entry by way of The Tales of Tenali Rama! Tenali Rama was an Indian poet, scholar, thinker and a special advisor in the court of Krishnadevaraya who ruled Andhra Pradesh from C.E. 1509 to 1529. Tenali Rama was renowned for his folk tales, which like Birbal were witty and clever. So Roy, I hope you enjoy them and to all my lovely audience, I hope the fun conversations between my partner in crime and me, make you laugh too - we couldn’t get over the word ‘thinker’ and kept guffawing ππππππ:-) Stay safe, stay happy and keep reading ! πππ€π€ππππ More Tenali Rama stories to follow soon x
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