My Ajji’s sister whom we lovingly called Dahisar Ajji (because she stayed in Dahisar, Mumbai) would often tell me this story titled Kannu pilipili bala patapata….
There was once a poor family – a mother and her 3 children who lived on the outskirts of a forest. One day, after selling her daily forest collections at the weekly market (Santhe) in the nearby town, the mother was able to buy enough rice flour to make two akki rotis (rice rotis) for dinner. She divided the rotis amongst her children. The youngest one – a four year old quickly finished his share and demanded for more roti. Lovingly with pain in her eyes she said ‘Magaa(child)…I don’t have any more’. He did not listen and started wailing. Afraid that the other two would get influenced, she decided to be stern and pushed him outside the hut and locked the door.
Dinner finished, she put the other two kids to bed and rested her body on the hard floor. She could hear her younger one sobbing outside. Tears were flowing from her eyes. All her son had asked for was more food and she could not even provide that! If only his father was alive! She had to discipline the boy so that he learnt to accept the hard truth of his life. A few hours of standing outside would do him no harm. She will allow him back before going to sleep herself. As she was thinking this, her tired body drifted into sleep.
Outside, in the middle of the night, the child saw twinkling eyes in the bush and heard a swish swoosh of tail. He sensed it was a wild animal and started screaming loudly ‘Amma….kannu pili pili bala pata pata..ardha roti sakamma’ (Mother…Twinkling eyes and sound of tail swishing…half a roti is enough mother! ) The mother was in too deep sleep. When she woke up in the morning…it struck her! She had left her dear child outside the entire night…fear and guilt gripper her! When she opened the door, all she found was the rags of the torn shirt her son was wearing.
Dahisar Ajji never narrated any moral for the story. She just stated it as an incident. It was a story of a mother’s helplessness to fulfil her child’s innocent demand – half a roti more! And her unintentional mistake that her tired body drifted into sleep. The story sent shivers down my bone and for quite a few days I would be afraid of going into the dark alone and almost fainting at the sight of anything twinkling in the dark.
The story leads me to this song which is supposed to scare little ones….ghongho ailo ghongho…
The lyricist of this song is Shivramswami of Bankikodla (1850-1943), born in the family of Kalyanpurs who composed several poems and songs in simple language in Marathi, Konkani, Kannada and Hindi
घोंघो आयलो घोंघो, ताक्का सौंसार नाक्का भोंघो
डोळ्या दिस्ता हात्तांतु मेल्णा नाही म्होणु कोणाक सांगु ।
मुगा येद्दे मात्ते, मल्पै एद्दे सात्ते
पाय काय नाती, गाँवभर भोवता आणि चातमूर करता जोते ।
घोंघो महा जोरु, तो गुनगुन करता स्वरु
कानडोळते धांपुन बसता , इत्ते पुणी मनोहारु ।
घोंघ्याले हातांतु सुदियो , तो सोबार करता मुदियो
बशिल कडचो आपण हालना, भौंता गुड्यान गुड्यो ।
घोंघ्या कोण की भित्ता, तो सौंसार कोरु वत्ता
घोंघो ताक्का सोणा, चिर्डून मर्डून, लोळोण लोळोण खात्ता ।
ghoṃgho āyalo ghoṃgho, tākkā sauṃsāra nākkā bhoṃgho
ḍoḻyā distā hāttāṃtu melṇā nāhī mhoṇu koṇāka sāṃgu ।
mugā yedde mātte, malpai edde sātte
pāya kāya nātī, gām̐vabhara bhovatā āṇi cātamūra karatā jote ।
ghoṃgho mahā joru, to gunaguna karatā svaru
kānaḍoḻate dhāṃpuna basatā , itte puṇī manohāru ।
ghoṃghyāle hātāṃtu sudiyo , to sobāra karatā mudiyo
baśila kaḍaco āpaṇa hālanā, bhauṃtā guḍyāna guḍyo ।
ghoṃghyā koṇa kī bhittā, to sauṃsāra koru vattā
ghoṃgho tākkā soṇā, cirḍūna marḍūna, loḻoṇa loḻoṇa khāttā ।