What rhymes with wicked?

It was a fun morning at Easy Library in Koramangala with Darius Sunawala and Arati Punwani reading some evergreen kiddie stories turned into poems with a modern twist. Easy Library is celebrating its 10th year with an event every month.

Vani Mahesh, the owner of the library, could not have chosen better than inviting Darius, who is one of Bangalore's most popular RJ's, with his dancer-wife Arati and they regaled a packed audience to readings from Vikram Seth's “Beastly Tales” and Roald Dahl's “Revolting Rhymes”.

Darius began the morning with Seth's “Hare And The Tortoise” which has been adapted into simple free verse, which Darius brought alive to his captive audience. Seth had given the hare a snotty, female character, while the tortoise is a deadpan male. Darius dramatised it marvellously.

“Darling Tortoise,” drawled the hare, “I would thrash you anywhere — marsh or mountain, hill or dale, Field or forest, rain or hail!” Snapped the tortoise, slow and steady: “Choose your place, and I'll be ready”.

After which Arati read out a gory Cinderella from “Revolting Rhymes” by Roald Dahl. Violence is the hallmark of Dahl's work and in this rhyme the prince lops off the sister's heads and being privy to that, Cinderella asks the fairy godmother to find her a ‘decent man,' rather than this murdering prince to marry! “Within a minute, Cinderella was married to a lovely feller, A simple jam maker by trade, Who sold good home-made marmalade. Their house was filled with smiles and laughter, And they were happy ever after.”

Darius was back next and he regaled the audience with “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf”, also by Dahl, from “Revolting Rhymes”. But despite her little-girl voice, Red Riding Hood is no pushover, but a gun-toting babe in Dahl's version! “A few weeks later, in the wood, I came across Miss Riding Hood. But what a change! No cloak of red, No silly hood upon her head. She said, ‘Hello, and do please note my lovely furry wolfskin coat'.”

And then as a sort of encore because no one wanted to go home, Darius did “The Three Little Pigs” again by the quirky Dahl. The twist in the tale was that Red Riding Hood is part of this story too, and comes with her trusty gun to save the last piggie. “Ah, Piglet, you must never trust, Young ladies from the upper crust. For now, Miss Riding Hood, one notes, Not only has two wolfskin coats, But when she goes from place to place, She has a pigskin travelling case.”

A lot of the wicked humour was lost on the kids, but all the adults in the library definitely enjoyed both author's wit and the Sunawala couple's gift of bringing the poems alive.

Call Vani on 41102231 or check www.easylib.com.