Holi, Lord Krishna and Supandi

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 16^th person. Kindly help me.

Supandi: OK. Krishna, you count once again.

Krishna: Counting his friends once again – only 15. Where is the 16^th 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.