A young British girl is traveling with her father into the hills of India for summer. It is a hot, long and dull journey as the palanquin-bearers transport them into the hills to escape the summer heat. Her mother is absent, and to keep her occupied her ayah (Indian nanny) begins to tell her stories. A world comes alive within the confines of the palanquin. She never forgets her ayah or her stories.

Who is Ahalya? A princess? A scholar? Or an adulteress needing redemption? She is the foremost of the Panchakanyas - five women in the Hindu epics known to be virginal, pure and powerful. But in the battle of desires and words between men and gods, what does Ahalya’s voice sound like?

Duration: 50 minutes
Language: English

Hindu mythology speaks about cycles of creation and destruction / cataclysms. These are not only human tragedies, they encompass the submergence of the earth and cosmic destruction. But life regenerates. It might not be in the form and shape we expect or are comfortable with, but new life arrives as the old disintegrates.

Scottish Asian storyteller, Gauri Raje, will bring 5 such Hindu epic stories from the stories of Vishnu — spanning the sinking of the earth, a great flood on earth, the tyranny of cosmic kings, the destructive power of righteousness and sages going viral with their curses. What keeps the hope, life and wonder alive after each catastrophe?

Ghost stories give us chills. But they are more than that. In my storytelling work with migrant groups in the UK and India, I found migrants often wanting to tell ghost stories - stories of those in the betwixt and between, of living in the shadows, unrecognised.

In this programme, I would be weaving some of these ghost stories from the Indian sub-continent and from the Celtic world asking the questions: What are ghost stories? Who are the ghosts among us? What are the ghosts saying to us over centuries? What does a ghost see of the past, present and future?

Audio telling of stories from the Kalika pantheon (first told in 2018).

Two sessions at the Glasgow Museums of fairy tales from central and western India, Christmas tellings.

Traditional Tales from around the world on the themes of exile and finding sanctuary. Language: English

Duration: two halves of 50 minutes & 40 minutes.

Fairy Tales from India and Scotland. First told in 2018.

Stories following the seasons and landscapes of Central India.

Languages: English, Urdu, Marathi. Duration: 2 halves of 50 minutes each.