The Elephant’s child: Hello hello my lovely people! How are you today? I was about to ‘Hope you’re well’ you and then realised that it’s the last thing you want to hear if you’re not that well. So all i just want to say that I’m so happy if you’re well but equally I feel you if you’re not that well and that it’s ok to feel like that. Be kind to yourself please - no one is here to judge so just please take some time out to live yourself, unwind and perhaps listen to a few stories because stories can heal. That’s what my dear friend Sonia keeps reminding me of and I am so grateful to her for her love and encouragement and grace and so I dedicate this episode to her today as she feels poorly today. I hope that this simple, light as air story by the inimitable Rudyard Kipling (written in 1902 starting off its life as bedtime stories told to his little girl Josephine ‘just so’) makes you smile just like your words make everyone who read them, fill up with joy and emotion. Get well soon my friend! To all my little friends and their Mums and Dads who are listening to this, thank you for your support and for listening always. Stay healthy, stay safe, read a lot, listen to music and stories and don’t forget to be fully, freely and wholly yourselves. All my love, M xx
Hello hello lovely people! I hope you are all well and keeping warm if you, like me, are in the U.K because it is freezing at the moment!! Nothing helps me feel better than reading a book so I thought I would continue with the Amar Chitra Katha series and give you a glimpse of the beloved publication we grew up reading! Today’s story is about a valiant, just and honourable young prince who went on to become an extraordinary powerful and successful king whose empire extended beyond the Hindu Kush mountains. I hope you enjoy hearing this story and I look forward to sharing more from the ACK stables!! In the meantime, stay safe, keep smiling, read and listen to all the things that make you joyful and take care of yourselves! Much love and moonshine, Me xx
Hello earthlings!!! How are we all? I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy happy new year and I hope that 2022 brings you good health, abundance (of all the good things) and sees you doing all the things you didn’t, couldn’t or weren’t able to do. I honestly cannot believe that this is my first episode after May 2021 - in many ways, 2021 felt so much more difficult for so many more reasons and motivation was at an all time low. I hope to remedy all that and publish more regularly! For now though, a slice of comfort and of my childhood for those times when you most need it This episode is dedicated to one of my most favourite boys, Roy Ganguly who is currently poorly with what else (eye roll) and needs loads of TLC and many stories!! I hope you all enjoy it especially if you’re unwell or just feeling meh and I certainly hope Raman, the smart and funny court jester in King Krishnadevaraya’s kingdom of Vijayanagar (south India) from many moons back, brings a...
When the heart is heavy and I am lost, I head for the love and comfort of the only place I know outside of my Mama’s welcoming arms - books. They hug me in their warmth and offer me solace and when it’s a book written by my all time favourite other Bond, Ruskin Bond, it’s all the more special. As I think and pray for my country, reading his words allows me to feel closer to my homeland, even when I’m thousands of miles away. Wishing that all this ends soon and that there is light at the end of the tunnel for humanity as a whole. Praying for respite, healing and recovery for my country and its lovely people. I hope you enjoy hearing this story - my apologies for more than a few slip ups while reading, I was too exhausted to retake those bits and have just kept the unedited version. Stay safe everyone, for my peeps in India. stay home if you don’t need to absolutely head out, mask up and please practise social distancing. Keep reading and keep staying positive - we will get over this together ️️
Hello lovely folks!! Hope you’ve been well. There seems to be light at the end of the COVID tunnel it appears, hallelujah! Thank you Lord! Today we are going to pay tribute to the incredibly talented Sylvia Plath who has given the world of literature some spectacular gems. It is so tragic that she passed on so young but today I want to remember her with fondness and heaps of joy as I re-read this most wonderful story about fitting in, that is applicable to both children and adults alike, as a dedication to one of Ani’s besties and one of my favourite girls who has just turned 10 today. Happy birthday Avni, I wish you joy, love, lots of books, cake and I hope for all you kids that you do what’s right for you and what makes you happy - don’t try to conform to either what others do or to what you think others expect from you! Stay safe, stay sane, keep reading and remember it really doesn’t matter :-) ️️♀️
Happy World Book Day lovely earthlings! There’s so much I want to say on this hallowed day but for now all I will say is stay calm and read on, in this case, listen on! I hope you find magic in places you least expect and on that note, here are some stories of magical mythology from across the world. The first two episodes from Anita Nair’s brilliantly written and compiled Magical Indian myths ️️️️ and the first episode has a mystery guest from the USA I hope you enjoy it! Stay safe, stay healthy, make magical memories and carry on reading!! #worldbookday2021 #everydayisbookday #storytelling #worldmythology #magicalindianmyths #booksgivemelife
Helllo lovely folks and happy Thank-God-it’s-not-Monday-and-just-two-days-from-being-Friday :-))) Hope you are keeping your spirits up and finding things that spark joy and love in your hearts to keep you going during this time that seems to be an extension of another (lockdown) time except with no real clarity :-) But hey ho, we plough on and think of happy things and today’s definitely a day to rejoice as it’s the 9th birthday of a dear friend’s daughter who is my daughter’s namesake and one of my favourite little people in this world So naturally, this story is dedicated to you darling Anika. Happy birthday sweetheart - I wish you magic, love, happiness, adventure and heaps of stardust. Dream big and conquer the world !!! And remember to always believe in yourself and be full of inner confidence! Hope you and all the little and big people listening to this story will enjoy it and take some amazing life lessons from the collection of Mr. Bond’s many treasures Stay safe all, ...
"I am just a child who has never grown up. I still keep asking these 'how' and 'why' questions. Occasionally, I find an answer." Simple yet profound words from a man who refused to give up and whose relentless thirst for knowledge led to some great answers. Stephen Hawking, one of the most beloved scientists in the world was born on 8th January 1942 and lived on till the age of 76 (defying death even as he was diagnosed with ALS at only 21 and given just a couple of years to live!) discovering amazing things and helping find answers to questions that had long baffled scientists. Listen on to hear his story, written in 2009, so still referring to him in the present tense. Symbolic almost as he and his work live on in everyone’s hearts and minds. I hope you enjoy it! Until we meet again, stay safe, stay curious and keep on reading ! Toodles
Hello dahlings!!! For those of that know me, you know how much I absolutely LOVE telling stories but when it’s on the last day of a year that has been so spectacularly surreal and indescribable, you know that you can’t bid it farewell and wait to bring in 2021, with just any book. And so it had to be The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse for its deeply endearing profundity and simple yet lasting life lessons. Thank you to the wonderful Mr Mackesy for the gift of his words, thoughts and magical illustrations. I hope I’ve been able to do even a little justice to them through this narration. . . Happy new year peeps! Here’s wishing us joy, hope, good health, non Zoom meetings with family, friends and colleagues, the ability to look for and find silver linings, the courage to ask for help when we need it and the knowledge that we will all get where we need to in the end. Thank you to each one of you for the love you’ve showered on what started off simply as a means to record and consolidate memories. I am so deeply grateful to everyone of you that takes the time to hear the accents, giggles, commentary and exchange of ideas that take place when I read to and with my now 10 year old. Thank you My heart is full! Stay safe, stay happy, keep reading, listening to and telling your own stories. Cheers to you all and to 2021 . #nye2020 #abookadaykeepsanxietyaway #booksforall #lifelessons #keepreading #bekindtoyourself
Two sleeps to go oh wise earthlings! And since I’m being ridiculously lazy, it stands to reason that I just upload a story I recorded the day before our wonderful kids were going back to school after a long summer of spring and summer term home schooling, here in the U.K. I know that so many students are still learning online all over the world and I hope you can all go back to meeting your incredible teachers and fabulous friends in school, very very soon in the new year. In the meantime, keep reading and do show some love to the exceptional Neil Gaiman in this lovely little story, Cinnamon. It's a story he wrote about 20 years ago, inspired by a Lisa Snellings carousel sculpture of a girl called Cinnamon, with pearlescent eyes, riding on a Tiger. Neil Gaiman is English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, nonfiction, audio theatre, and films. His works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book. He has won numerous awards, including the Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker awards, as well as the Newbery and Carnegie medals. He is the first author to win both the Newbery and the Carnegie medals for the same work, The Graveyard Book (2008). Until we meet again, sleep tight, stay safe, read loads and don’t let COVID get ahead :-) much love, toodles!