The Apple and The White Fence!

How many of you parents remember the story of Tom Sawyer? It is one story I read in my childhood that never left my mind. And it is also one of the very first stories that I told my child.
I don't even remember how old he was but one night he came to me and said, "Tell me a Story". My first reaction to this was, "Wait Kanna, Amma will come and tell you a story". I was tired and it had been my wife's job to do all the reading and storytelling. But tonight was a different story and tired as I might I have been, my little fellow was determined it had to be me doing the storytelling.

I did not have to think much because Tom Sawyer was kinda my HERO from my childhood days so that's obviously the first name that came to mind. And so, sleepy me started off on this journey with Tom Sawyer and how he was a naughty and lazy fellow. I slowly went on to how he was so naughty that his mom gave him a punishment on a fine saturday morning and asked him to paint the fence white.

Very soon I was into how his friends came along and how Tom tricked his friends into painting the fence for him while they still ended up parting with all the wonderful things that they brought along. OK, timeout, I know all of you parents have already read Mark Twain's Adventures of Tom Sawyer, so what's this all about? Is this some kind of trick?

No, not really. But the twist in the tale is that I was telling this kadhai in tamil. Picture this. "Indha Tom irundhaan illai Tomu?". And so on. At some point, the only things I remembered the friends had to trade were the apple and the marbles, but I kind of let my imagination run wild and started saying balloon and chocolate and anything else that came to my mind. More so, I started adding things that my son liked like toy trains.

I had gone through a whole bunch of stuff and my exhaustion wasn't getting any better. The time had come for this story to end but my son was so excited about this story that he wanted more and he wasn't feeling a bit sleepy himself. I was soon running out of things that Tom Sawyer's friends brought him that day and at some point, I paused to think of what else I could say and that's all I knew.

The next thing I knew was I woke up the next morning to see my son and wife, happily asleep next to me. No, this is not tamil cinema style and it was not a dream. I thought about the previous night and how I weaved this Tom Sawyerin Attagasangal to my son and it put a smile on my face. Sure enough, I had a great day.

If anyone of you reading this has not read Tom Sawyer, it's still not too late. It's a great read. And for those of who you know the story, try telling it to your child in your mother tongue. I am sure you will enjoy the experience as much as your child does.

Happy Storytelling!