The Storytellers - My Grandmother and Keith Olbermann

Like most grown ups, I too miss my childhood for a variety of reasons. I have some especially fond memories of my beejee (my grandmother) telling us kids stories before we went to bed at night.

I hail from a small town in Punjab, the frontier state that borders Pakistan in the north of India. Summers used to be pretty hot, even in the evenings, but as the night fell the temperatures usually became bearable, even pleasant in the wee hours of the morning. We used to sleep on cots on the roof of our house in those days - i still remember the moonlit nights, the constant whizzing of the table fan, the relentless chirping of the crickets and our pitaji's (my grandfather's) almost-sinusoidal snoring. Beeji used to tell us one story a night, and what amazes me now is that somehow it used to be a different story every night! Now that i think about it, I think much of my understanding of Hindu mythology as well as other Indian religions, may actually stem from those stories that our beejee used to tell us. Almost all the stories we heard then were told to us either in Hindi or Punjabi. The only recollection i have of listening to stories told in English is from my school days during English classes - but that wasn't nearly as much fun as the stories that our beejee used to tell us.

Somehow, it was only at the age of 29 that i got a chance to listen to and enjoy stories told in English - almost all the credit goes to Mr. Keith Olbermann of the 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' fame. These days when i get back home in the evenings, i invariably log in to the news channels on my laptop. Some days it is MSNBC. On Fridays i try to make it a point to watch news over MSNBC, especially the 8pm-9pm CST broadcast of 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann'. In the very last segment on his show on Friday nights Mr. Olbermann tells stories penned by James Thurbor. James Thurbor was an American author and made his name during the first half of last century - he has written many very witty short stories. You will find a video embedded below - this is from Mr. Olbermann's January 13, 2011 show. It is roughly seven minutes long, but this story is definitely worth listening. Enjoy*.

'The Admiral on The Wheel by James Thurbor' by Keith Olbermann:


* I wish i could add various sound effects from my childhood days to the stories that Mr. Olbermann tells every Friday - that would be really fun! Might actually try doing something like that some day.