Episode 2.5 – Pumpkin Monster!

I’ve gotten so much positive feedback from all you listeners so far, I just want to say a big thank you! To show my appreciation, here’s a bonus episode! Since its Halloween, and since its fall in much of the northern hemisphere, I thought I’d do a pumpkin special.

Find out how you can hitch a ride on a pumpkin – especially if you dont have a fairy godmother with a magic wand.

Pumpkin Ride

The old woman lived by herself in a hut at the edge of a dark forest. Let’s call her Ajji, which in a local Indian language or two means “grandmother” but is also sometimes colloquially used to address elderly women.

Ajji’s only relative was her daughter who was married and lived in a village on the other side of the forest.

As you can imagine Ajji was very lonely and missed her daughter very much.

Seeing how this was the pre-industrial era, she had no means of entertainment, communication, or any means to distract herself from her loneliness.

She decided to visit her daughter. A good idea, but also a terrible idea! Visiting her daughter was a perfectly natural thing to do, except it was also incredibly dangerous. Dark forest remember? Lots of wild animals in there. Remember no phones, no electricity, no weather forecast, no uber or lyft or ola, or any public transport. 

Ajji decided to go anyway. She packed up her clothes and set off on foot. She entered the dark forest, which was dark because the canopy blocked out the sun and it was hard to tell whether it was day or night. Perfect hunting grounds for creatures that have eyes well adapted to see in the dark – and that’s what she ran into one after the other.

First she heard the high pitched growl near her. She whirled around to see a fox, who was looking at her mouth watering at the prospect of eating her.

“Hey Mr Fox” said Ajji, as if expecting the animal to understand her.

But surprise surprise, understand her he did. “Hi ajji” he said “why dont you come home with me”. We’d love to have you for dinner. I mean have you *over* for dinner, he corrected himself.

But Ajji was smart and knew exactly what the fox meant to do. She had a plan, and like most plans, it basically amounted to kicking the can down the road.

“As you wish”, ajji said. “But I’m barely a starter, I wouldnt serve well as the main course”.

The fox cringed at the bad joke, but his focus was now on something else.

He was staring at Ajji, and he had to agree. She did look pretty poorly. Seeing how she seemed all bony, and thin. But something’s better than nothing he said. But wait said Ajji. I have just had an idea. I am visiting my daughter who lives on the other side of the forest. My daughter is an excellent cook and I can eat and get fat and then I am sure taste much better.

Now the fox should have seriously doubted her. I mean, there’s a forest with other wild animals. What if she never makes it to her daughter’s place? What if she changes her mind and doesn’t come back or goes back home the long way around the forest. What if she has to work at her daughter’s place, what if her daughter doesn’t feed her rich food.

But the fox somehow concluded that these weren’t real objections. 

He let her go.

Ajji started on her way again. And she ran into a wolf. 

The wolf immediately invited her to be dinner, I mean to eat dinner at his place. Yeah, I just went through all of that said Ajji.

And again she went through a similar conversation with the wolf too. She promised to return all fattened up from her daughter’s house,  and the wolf let her go.

And the same thing happened with the lion and the tiger, they too let her go after she promised to return as the main course. Yeah, there are lions and tigers in this same forest, because thats actually possible in India, unlike most places in the world. 

Ajji finally made it out of the forest. Her daughter was delighted to see her. She plied her with all kinds of excellent food and drink and gave her  o chance to burn any calories. So the fox, the wolf the tiger and the lion were justified in disregarding some of the tap-outs I mentioned earlier. As she got much fatter and in between bowlfuls of porridge, ajji finally told her daughter she would reveal what was bothering her. Oh was anything bothering you? Chimed in Ajji’s soninlaw. I wouldn’t have known it from the way you are eating. 

Sshh said the daughter as she ladled out more sweets onto Ajji’s plate. 

In between mouthfuls of gulab jamun and rasagollas(both are incredibly tasty Indian sweets) she told them about the animals to whom she had promised to be dinner. 

You don’t have to go said the daughter. 

But a promise is a promise said the son in law with a gleam of hope in his eyes.

Nonsense said the daughter. I know just what to do. Besides being such an excellent cook she grew her own vegetables. They all went out to the garden where the daughter pointed to her prize pumpkin. I was going to save that for the Guinness book of world records but since those haven’t been invented yet you can have the pumpkin, mom

A pumpkin! Yes, this is the answer to all my problems. And how exactly is this the answer to all my problems? After all thAT dessert a pumpkin might not be the best idea. And I hate eating pumpkin, especially if it’s not ripe. Maybe if you sautee it with some onions she wondered 

Just listen for a minute interrupted the daughter.

Your house is on the other side of the forest but it’s also all downhill from here to your house.

And your point is said Ajji?

All we have to do is to make a door, carve out the inside of the pumpkin and you CAN GET INSIDE AND roll downhill ALL THE WAY to your house.

The animals wont eat you, they are all carnivores. 

But wont I suffocate in there, and how will I know I am going in the right direction if I am inside.

We’ll make holes for air and so you can see. You can probably steer from inside by just pushing in the direction you want to go. 

That does sound like a good idea. And if I am hungry on the way I can eat the inside of the pumpkin. 

So they put their plan in action, the son in law eager to be rid of Ajji, made a door. And because he wasn’t evil, he did make some holes so she could breathe and see.

Ajji had a few more plateful of snacks and sweets just for the road, and then set out in her pumpkin.

As expected she ran into the lion. The lion was very hangry. But he remembered his manners- hey pumpkin.

If Ajji had been fully in character she wouldn’t have responded. But she said hi back.

Now the lion thought it was perfectly normal for a pumpkin to talk back to him. Instead of pouncing on it and eating Ajji up, he made normal conversation with the pumpkin. 

I shouldn’t judge though, after all he’s a lion that can talk.

Hey pumpkin he said. Did you see a fat old lady in that house in that exact direction you are rolling from? 

Oh you mean the elegant lady of mature years said Ajji from inside the pumpkin? I wouldn’t call her fat but yes I did see her. She was just telling her family how she needed to eat more so that she could serve the lion well….. in a gravy…. with peas and carrots.

The lion who for all these days hadn’t eaten anything went on waiting, but with renewed hope for Ajji’s return. 

Ajji rolled on…

The same thing happened with the tiger, the wolf and the fox.

They too were hungry, having eaten nothing for days, they too assumed pumpkins talk, they too believed Ajji was fattening herself up for them, and they too let the pumpkin go without further investigation. 

Ajji rolled on and finally got home. She was eager to get out and frankly she was sick of pumpkin by then. She couldn’t wait to get away from the pumpkin smell that had been with her for so long.

And then she saw what had happened. 

The door wouldn’t open, she couldn’t get out of the pumpkin!

There was no way out. And she had no tools inside.

She was drawn to an inescapable conclusion. There was a way out. She did not relish it. Quite literally. The only thing to do was to eat her way out. 

Still a few days chewing through the pumpkin might not be the worst. If the pumpkin was ripe. She sunk her teeth into the wall to check. Was it ripe?

No. It was not ripe.

Notes

That’s it for today. Some notes on the story.

This story is from western India, a state called maharashtra.

There are a few variations of this story but the twist at the end is something I added. Because its Halloween!

In some versions Ajji fools three of the animals but the fox is too clever for her. He knows she’s inside, but she pretends to still be bony and thin, and he leaves her alone. In another version the animals all fight against each other while she sneaks away. In yet another version she pretends to be a carnivorous pumpkin monster that scares away the wild animals.

In all of these, she reaches home safely.

Questions?

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please leave a comment or a review on the site – its sfipodcast.com, the site is also linked in the show notes, and the twitter handle is @sfipodcast

Again, I’d like to thank my family and friends and all of you listeners – I am very grateful for your support.

The music is from purple planet.com that’s purple-planet.com

Next week we’ll continue with our regularly scheduled episodes

See you then!