Pied Piper Of Ramapur

The story goes that ,when the Pied piper of Hamlin played his pipe, all the Rats in the city of Hamlin followed him to their death. Similarly, all the children of the Ramapuram village could die for the stories of Raghav. He was from the village and developed unusual flair to tell stories from the age of six or seven. His grandfather Mr. Venkayya identified that his grandson was blessed with this skill and he encouraged him. He made interesting stories out of anecdotes from their daily life. Boys and girls of his age group would gather around him in the evening and spend time listening to him. Sometimes it was the story of a beautiful princess who was troubled by an evil fellow and finally rescued by a handsome prince. Or another time it was about the woes of poor farmer! It was an excellent entertainment for the children as there was no television in any house. Those were the days. Parents of these children and elders of the village knew that they wouldn’t get into any mischief and therefore let them engage in the activity, which was constructive. Sometimes even elders joined the group. His grandfather Venkayya usually accompanied the grandson and for some reason he was particular that he wrote down the stories his grandson narrated as he was yet to develop writing skills.

The activities of this group got more intensive during the summer vacation and slowly they got better organized. Raghav started to write the stories as his writing and expression skills improved and grandfather Venkayya would preserve them. Raghav would read from the manuscript.

The word spread in the surrounding villages and during summer, they would invite Raghav and team to their village or they would come to Ramapur. He knew the pulse of his audience and accordingly his stories would have a rural setting , with slight personal touch and when he read them he would completely involve with the characters and mesmerize the listeners,  modulating his voice and expression. All in all, people loved listening to him. Venkayya, his grandfather was growing old and overtime he gradually stopped accompanying his grandson for the story sessions.

That summer, as usual the story telling activities were organized in a good pace and all the boys, now in teens held the sessions in a central place in the village with a small stage. That day, there were guests in the house of village chief and they expressed the wish to join the story listeners group. The boys were thrilled and they made special arrangements for the guests. Chairs were arranged for the guests. The session took off very well and to their amazement, the elderly man amongst the guests had taken a liking to Raghav’s story and showed interest to know more about his writings. The next day Raghav took his writings to the gentleman, who patiently went through them and finally declared that he would publish all of them as books. He owned a publishing house! Raghav and his friends and for that matter, the entire village was thrilled at the prospect of having Raghav’s writings published as books. It was indeed pride to the entire village.

After a couple of months, two books were published and Raghav’s joy had no bounds. He ran to his ailing grandfather and showed him the books and fell on his feet. He wondered if his grandfather knew that a day will come when his books would be published and that was the reason he preserved all his stories. They had a book release in the village where they presented the copies to the elders and Raghav’s parents. Their joy knew no bounds. Surprisingly, the books were sold in good numbers. From the proceeds of sale of books, he could keep his grandfather comfortable during his last days. Soon his grandfather passed away.

The main attraction according to the readers was that all through , they were in a village settings, giving an excellent first hand narrative of village life, in a realistic and interesting way but at the same time positive way. Raghav also received a national award for the book with the collection of stories.

There was no looking back for Raghav. He moved to the city for higher education as there were no colleges in his village. He became a member of literary societies and got good exposure and could improve his writing skills. But even today he remembers his friends who encouraged the writer in him and the entire village that was behind him. Where ever he goes, he acknowledges them and frequently visits his village and continues his story telling sessions. His grandfather has a special place in his life and heart.

After completing his education with a PhD degree in languages, Raghav took up a position in the University and was fully engaged in writing and earned name and fame and several national awards in literature and in his circles there was a talk that he deserves to get an international award and it was only a matter of time. All his contemporaries in the village left the village for better prospects but still they try to meet up at least once in an year or two and hear Raghav and relive their child hood days.