The Storyteller

By Mithin Aachi

In a remote village of South India a boy is born with a neurological disorder that leaves him retarded. Trying to find his destiny in the midst of despair, he stumbles upon the story of Mr. Rao who is a celebrated hero of the village. He tries to emulate the late Mr. Rao and in his endeavour succeeds in developing a rare imagination and a knack of storytelling, just like that of the great Mr. Rao. He graduates from a village bumpkin to a sensitive storyteller, astonishing everyone that he meets.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wisdom Tree Publishers
• Release date: Feb 4, 2011
• ISBN: 9788183282307

Mithin Aachi

Mithin Aachi is an orthopaedic surgeon in Hyderabad. He is also an artist with his paintings seen in collections all over the world.

Book preview

© Mithin Aachi, 2008

ISBN: 978-81-8328-105-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise — without the prior permission of the author and publisher.

Published by

Wisdom Tree

4779/23 Ansari Road

Darya Ganj

New Delhi-110002

Ph.: 23247966/67/68

Published by Shobit Arya for Wisdom Tree; edited by Manju Gupta; designed by Kamal P. Jammual; typeset at Marks & Strokes, New Delhi- 110002 and printed at Print Perfect, New Delhi-110064

To my Dad, my Mom, my sister and my wife, who have helped

me throughout this endeavour.

Contents

Foreword                            ix

1.    Introduction                         1

2.    Early Days of Childhood                 9

3.    Discovery of a Vocation                18

4.    Search for Parents                    24

5.    The Opening of a New Chapter             38

6.    The Creative Mind at Work               45

7.   Encouragement from the

Right Direction                      53

8.    The Silent Protest                    63

9.    The Story of the White Crow              67 10.   The Story of the Singing Tree            73 11.   Engulfed in Sorrow                    79 12.   The Three Friends                     84 13.   Her Deteriorating Condition           93 14.   A Painful End                         96 15.   A Pleasant Surprise                  106 16.   Seven Stories of the Storyteller       110 17.   Epilogue                           112

Foreword If you misunderstand your mind, you are an ordinary person; if you realise your mind, you are a sage. There is no difference at all whether it is a man, woman, old, young, wise, foolish, human, animal, whatever. Thus, in the Lotus of Truth assembly, was it not the eight-year-old Naga girl who went directly south to the undefiled world Amala, sat on a jewel, lotus flower, and realised universal complete enlightenment? asks the Zen master, Jakushitsu Genko.

As with all the Zen sayings, profound mystery is captured in a few words. In the matrix of all that we know as mind, exist states of conscious, unconscious, subconscious and the nirvanic mind or enlightenment. Zen masters call the ultimate state ‘no-mind’ or the door to cosmic wisdom. Ultimately, all existence seems to stem and end with what we simply call the mind. But even as science scales territories of time and space, the mind still seems to be an uneasy ground. Its mysteries abound and continue to tease all scientific instruments of probe.

Master Genko uses the word ‘realise’ to plumb the depths of this elusive space called ‘mind’. Few can really explain what this ‘state’ is and none have ventured to reveal even their own ‘realisation’. Spiritual masters are the only skilled

x                      THE STORYTELLER

seekers on this circuitous journey and even they remain silent

on the actual scenic route. But the adventure of the

awakening mind continues to be the most mystifying and

fascinating of all human experiences and endeavours.

Sometimes a creative writer or poet tries to capture in the

web of a story the awesome portals of the galaxy called the

human mind.

Mithin Aachi’s debut work as a writer has attempted something similar in The Storyteller — a tale, both profound

and simple. And as with Master Genko’s eight-year-old girl

realising enlightenment, the young protagonist of Aachi’s

tale is a mystifying combination of wisdom and perception

in a world that views him as mentally challenged and

unformed.

The Storyteller in fact unveils for the reader, the heart of the proverbial ‘fool’ that ancient texts often refer to as a

being who is the true repository of wisdom. The ‘fool’ to the

world is the undefiled mind where the cosmic flute plays

unhindered, its songs of truth and spontaneity. Like when

the young protagonist is asked by the teacher his response

to a poem and he says "I had a picture of joy that the

flowers and the plant must have had on their faces when

they broke open into a world filled with light, after being

confined to the dark world of the soil. I saw their smiling

faces as they greeted each other in joy." Hardly words of

one who was termed ‘retarded’ by the village and the teacher

was quick to notice the depth of the boy’s imagination.

FOREWORD                          xi

Only because his mind was as pure as the day he was born. In being termed ‘different’, he escapes the regimentation of thought that plagues schooled minds so early in our world. The main character in contrast is free and un-reined in perception and definition and through him Aachi spins the haunting truths of compassion and wonder which minds like the main character scatter with ease and innocence.

The joy of Mithin Aachi’s first work is that it is a story for both children and adults. In times, when icons of substance are few and far between, The Storyteller is parti- cularly precious because it tells us where to search. As a culture we lack maturity for we have yet to value and respect disability and difference. In such a scenario, the hero’s ‘big head’ and slow movements echo a critical truth for all who want to hear. Who is it that we call ‘retarded’? The ones who can touch life around them with lightness, spontaneity and compassion or the ones who mouth the rigidity of organised thought and elitist merits?

In effect as a sage once said a ‘fool’ is one who goes on trusting against all his experience. He has the support of the Universe to jump into the unknown because trust and innocence are his guides, not scepticism and past experience. The main character is the ‘fool’ whose beauty and endearing receptivity to everything around him will hopefully transform the reader’s notion of ‘retardation’ forever. He will undoubtedly humble those who are quick to limit the infinity of the mind.

xii                     THE STORYTELLER

Mithin Aachi is himself a fascinating mind of multitudes. An orthopaedic surgeon by profession he is a passionate star-gazer, well-versed in the mysteries of the night sky. Conscious of a deep, enquiring Nature at an early age, Aachi tripped over a powerful cosmic truth within his own life. Stricken with a severe bout of existential angst once, he suddenly found himself in the midst of a creative fever the likes of which he had never known. Untutored in art and painting, he suddenly began to paint with a passion and intensity whose source was as unfathomable to him as it continues to be inexhaustible. Perhaps the divine core that Aachi witnessed in his creative moments triggered the desire to write The Storyteller — a spontaneous desire to reach out to the child within us all and remind us that we can dream, aspire and connect to our infinite potential. Aachi’s paintings are part of international private collections as well as the prestigious Jagdish and Kamala Mittal Museum of Art.

I met Aachi on a blog and was struck by his deep and honest mind. Franz Kafka once said that creativity is the axe by which we free the frozen sea of the soul. Aachi has many seas within him and it seems they are as deep as they are rich.

JASJIT PUREWAL

— CHAPTER ONE —

Introduction I was told I was born on the same day as Uthhaloori Venkat Rao.

You would not know of him if you have never visited Rajahmundry, a small town in India. He is a famous writer from this part of the world. Well by ‘this part of the world’ I mean our town and the neighbouring villages. Most of us have never seen beyond this small little world of ours and anyone who has made a big name from amongst us is revered like a hero. Mr. Venkat Rao, too, was a hero. He was in fact the first person from our village to get an English-medium education. In those days it was unimaginable for anyone from our lot to get an education. Well, Mr. Rao did and subsequently graduated in English. On graduation, he was offered the English teacher’s post in the local school — the first time ever someone from the village had achieved such a distinction.

On hearing of his appointment, people came from neighbouring villages to congratulate him. They came walking; they came in