Supandi Stories – My version
Story: 1 Holi, Lord
Krishna and Supandi
Every night at our
daughter Archana’s family in Kharghar, it will be my turn to tell Supandi stories to my grandson Daksh(fondly called Dakku), a small fellow
who has just completed his fifth birthday.
Any story I fabricate and narrate with a character Supandi will be taken as original Supandi story by my
grand son, because I just know that Supandi stories interest children but I do
not know many of Supandi stories myself.
So, I thought of making my own stories to make him relax and put him to
sleep. Here is the one told on the night
of Holi.
Me: Today being Holi, I am going to tell you a
story on Holi attended by Supandi.
Dakku: Yes, Komacha(that is how he fondly calls me), tell me.
Me: Holi festival is
part of Lord Krishna’s life. On this day, Lord Krishna used to play
various types of games with his friends. One such game was ‘Hide and Seek’.
Dakku: Ya, I know
Komacha. We also play this game---after counting numbers 1 to 10, we hide
ourselves in bushes and other places and one of our friends will search and find
us.
Me: Do you know, Dakku
as to why on Holi we apply
colours and sprinkle coloured water on others?
Dakku: No. But, I only know we play with Pitchkaris
(water-pump) and splash coloured water on our friends. Why don’t you tell me?
Me: Ok. Now, I will tell the story of Holi as played by Krishna as a young boy. On the Holi day, Krishna was playing with his
friends the hide and seek game. It was the turn of Krishna to find his
friends. As per rule of the game, whenever
Krishna finds a friend and
catches him/her Krishna will apply a
colour powder on the face so that he/she will not hide again. This will continue until all the friends are
found and colours applied on the face on each of them.
That day, Krishna has to find and catch 15 friends. It was a large garden and his
friends had spread and hid themselves
in the bushes and trees. He looked for
his friends moving from one bush to another. It went on for about half an hour.
Krishna could not find anyone.
Then, he saw
Supandi watching Krishna
struggling to find his friends. So,
Krishna approached Supandi, an intelligent boy, to suggest to him some idea to catch his friends. Supandi
thought for a while and whispered in the ears of Krishna to use a Pitchkari
with coloured water to find his friends hiding in bushes.
Krishna was very
happy and he ran into his house and brought out a large pitchkari and filled it with coloured
water. Then he started spraying coloured water liberally in every bush and tree he moved and
searched. This trick worked as the
sprinkled water from pitchkari when fell
on the face or some part of the body of his friend hiding in a bush, he/she tried to clear it by
shaking his/her body. This helped Krishna to know that someone was hiding in that bush
and he jumped and caught
the friend and smeared his/her face with coloured powder. Thus, he was able to catch all his friends. He thanked Supandi for his brilliance.
(Sensing that Dakku
was just half asleep and not
fully ready to go to sleep yet, I
continued it with further contraption).
Here it goes.
Krishna, though found out all his friends, was not sure he
had found them all. So, he asked his friends to line up and started counting
them. He found that there were 15 of them.
Krishna was a bit confused. He felt that there were in all 16 of
them. Since he counted only 15, he sought the help of Supandi again. Supandi came to his help.
Krishna: Supandi, we were 16 of us when we started playing.
But, now, I find that there are only 15 here whom I have found and caught and
smeared with colour. That means I have
not found the 16th person. Kindly help me.
Supandi: OK. Krishna, you count once again.
Krishna: Counting his friends once again – only 15. Where is
the 16th person?
Supandi: Krishna, now I will count. Before that, I want you to
stand at the end of the line with your friends.
Krishna: Ok. I will
do that. He joined his friends.
Supandi: Now, each one of you should count 1,2,3…… beginning from the first person.
Friends: Started
saying 1,2,3,4…….. and Krishna standing last said 16.
Supandi. Krishna, are you happy that you yourself have said 16
and all of you are here.
Krishna: Great, Supandi, I admire your wisdom and deep
knowledge of mathematics. You have all my blessings.
Supandi smiled and
went away.
Dakku: Thank you, Komacha. Now, I know why we are using
Pitchkaris and colour powders in Holi. I also know counting of numbers
correctly.
Saying
‘Good Night, Komacha’ and
stamping a kiss on the cheek of
Komacha, his friend grandpa, Dakku turned
to his side and started sleeping.