We are a sum total of all the stories around us, we are our stories! Remember the first story your mom told you about the crow which would run away with your bite, if you did not finish it soon enough! Or those from your daadi/naani  with always a happy ending and the same beginning" Once upon a time..." or those which your dad read out from Panchtantra and in the end asked " tou batao, iis kahani se kya shiksha milti hai...

Unfortunately, today story telling is ailing... stories are dying.There is no pestering, pleading for one more story... no dozing off in your arms half-way through a tale....no wide-eyed, mouth opening gestures of disbelief or amazement, no more interruptions with stupid and innocent questions!

Those were old times of deprivation of human race, before we took a giant leap, the Stone Age before the advent of Mobile phones! Mind you they are smart phones, or rather SMARTER phones. They are definitely smarter than us, for they can engage our kids more than we can!

Today Disney decides what stories to tell. The share of imagination which belonged to our kids some time ago is now done at the Pixar studio by adults! We have happily outsourced our kids share of creativity to a few TV Channels and our Smart phones.

I am lucky that my daughter is a little different; she devours stories, feeds on them, lives with them and sleeps with them!

She is has no other go, we do not have a TV, she is only allowed just an hour quota of 'smart' time with my phone, my Ipad is off- limits for her.

But I have a problem, the collection of my stories are exhausted! (Please refer to our list in the next post)Her search for novelty and my quest for a new source are beginning to be painful for both of us!

The idea is to create a rich and varied pool of stories.

All the stories that we grew up with, the stories gifted to us from generations. I want to pass that treasure on to her, it rightfully belongs to her !I want to give her my tales, your tales, tales from the tiny villages, from the raging dynasties , from across the deserts, the rain forests, from the shore, from the hills. I want to give her all. I want to give the wonderland back to my Alice!

I am always open to any suggestions that you might have to improve on this idea, please feel free to write to me on this blog or inbox me . My next post will outline, how exactly you could contribute to this project.