City Book Leaders - Story Bank

The city of Jhansi is usually associated with the courage and vigor of Jhansi Ki Rani but the timeline of this city and it's formidable fort goes almost two centuries before the story of Rani. 

Shared by Partha Sarthi Sen Sharma , an IAS officer and an author from the book ' Forts of Bundelkhand' by Vijai and Rita Sharma 

Voice over by Jyotica Sarcar Mullick 

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The legend of Umrao Jaan of Faizabad , an epitome of Nawabi etiquette and finesse as narrated by Kena Shree from the famous book ' Safarnama' by Yatindra Mishr 

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Banaras, The city that houses millions of Gods also houses a temple of Mother India . This temple depicts the deep veneration of our freedom fighters towards the country and symbolizes the true essence of nation. 

Reference from the book ' Ras Ras Banaras' by Atul Tiwari ( A min. of culture , GoI presentation)

Narration by Sonia Bareja and Mohit Gupta 

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Mere mention of a hidden treasure in a story makes it amazing. In this story of ' Gyani Chor' , Shalu Ahuja has shared the legend of the 'Indian Robinhood from Rohtak'

Scripted and Narrated by Shalu Ahuja 

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The story of Sambhar and Marathas from the city of Tanjore (Thanjavur) ,  that emerged when Girish, a nagpur boy thought of impressing his tamil girlfriend, Priti while they met over a lunch at a south indian restaurant , Sagar Ratna.  

Reference of this story is found in the book ' Indian Food: A Historical Companion' by food historian K T Achaya 

Scripted and Narrated by Mohit Gupta

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The city of lucknow with it's rich heritage backdrop has hosted many famous movies of bollywood in the past. In this episode , Devendra Singh and Kumud Singh are taking us into a journey of some of those movies that were made during the golden period of hindi cinema 

Narration is inspired from the writings of Padamshri Yogesh Praveen from his book' Lucknow Nama'  along with few other books and the primary research by RJs' Devendra Singh and Kumud Singh 

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Lucknow is a city where each and every class has it's own style and etiquette . In this episode , Kena Shree , a senior HR Professional , a known author and a successful poet is telling about the rickshawalas of Lucknow . She has chosen this narrative from Lucknow's famous DanstanGo Himanshu Bajpai's book ' Kissa Kissa Lucknowa' 

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Narmada , a central Indian river which is termed as the life line of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat , originates from a holy placed called Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh. While it flows, it passes through many villages and cities carrying numerous stories from many generations in the past

In this episode of Story Bank , we have the story of Narmada from it’s origin as shared and narrated by noted author  Raghav Chandra, a former IAS officer. This story of city Amarkantak and river narmada is from his book ‘ Scent of a Game’

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TATA is a part of every one's life and the city of Jamshedpur is named after Jamsed Ji Tata as shared by Partha Sen Sharma , a noted author , an IAS officer and a former TELCO employee 

From the book 'A steel man in India' by John L Keenan 

Story narrated by Jyotica Sarkar Mallik , a professional and talented voice over artist 

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Kinthup a spy who lived as a tailor in Darjeeling was on a mission to find the secret of river brahmaputra in Tibet in 1880s . 

The story of the adventure of this not so known hero can be read in Sanjeev Sanyal's famous book ' Land of the seven rivers' 

Translated, scripted and narrated by Mohit Gupta

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Mumbai is known for it's highly collaborative citizens . There is something in the city that whenever the city faces any massive problem, everyone comes together to find the 'Win-Win' 

A story of Mumbai's Taj Palace hotel from Dr. Shashank Shah's book ' Win Win Corporations' is an example of this trait of the city

Narrated by Mohit Gupta 

Taj Mahal present in Agra has it's own secret that is related to geography. Though Mumtaz Behum breathed last in the city of Burhanpur(MP), the city could not host the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal and thus lost it's claim to fame 

Story shared by Dr. Priyanka Mishra an IPS officer and a historian. References of the story are found in the book 'Springs of Life- India's Water Resources' 

Story narrated by Jyotica Sarkar Malik, a professional voice over artist 

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Stories of Akbar Birbal , like Taj Mahal,  are just not the stories but lessons for life. 

In this story Author and Investment Advisor , Vinayak Sapre , speaks of a story from his book , ' Birbal, Tenali and Investment Sutras' of why should we not indulge into things we cannot afford and rather than taming white elephants we should have assets that can earn for us

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Ghoomar is a very popular song of Jodhpur which is a form of storytelling with music and dance. In this episode noted Ghazal Singer , Rashmi Agarwal has lent her lovely voice for this folk song 

Book for reference for this episode - 'Popular Music in Contemporary India' by Natalie Sarrazin

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The movie 'Don' which is Amitabh Bachchan's one of the most iconic movies and it's special song' Khaike Paan Banaras Wala' were made for each other so much so that after few rejections by the doyens of bollywood , the movie and the song created a remarkable feat 

The song epitomizes the  joy of the city of Banaras 

Book for reference - 'The Making of Don' by Krishna Gopalan 

Like every other city, Mumbai too has a story behind it's name which is as old as Gods. The city has got many transformations to it's name to the one it has landed now as Mumbai 

An interesting story not only to know but also to tell your friends and kids as shared by Vibha Jindal 

Reference of the story from the book ' Govind Narayan's Mumbai'

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Allahabad or prayagraj , is city known for many things but has it's own charm with the name associated to Amitabh Bachchan . This city has given him everything especially the sleeping Hanuman of this town.  

This temple is unique and fulfills the desire of all 

The temple has a special mention in the book 'Vacation Goose Travel Guide Allahabad India' By Francis Morgan

Narration by Mohit Gupta 

Who wouldn't have heard the ' Chaddi PahAn ke phool khila' song and the adventures of the chaddi boy of Rudyard Kipling's 'The Jungle Book' - Mowgli but there are still many things to know from the book. One such unheard story is here in this episode of the Story Bank of City Book Leaders 

The book's plot was based upon the dense tiger reserve of 'Pench' in Madhya Pradesh

Narration by Naysa Punhani and her mother Sonia Bareja Punhani 

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Chamba a beautiful lake town of Himanchal Pradesh is a special city to visit especially due to the flavor of love stories of Paravati and Shiva . 

Known for it's folk songs, Chamba has many of them for each and every occasion. In this episode , versatile Ghazal Singer Rashmi Agarwal sings a part of a very known song of the city - 'Chamba Kitni Door' 

The reference book is ' The Royal Bargain' by Krishna Yadav  

Mussoorie the queen of hills has so many stories associated to it that. Abhishek is narrating few not so heard stories of the places in this beautiful hill station of Uttarakhand 

Book for the reference : Uttarakhand The Abode of Gods 

The king of sweets Rasogulla has an interesting trivia related to the cities of Odisha . Listen to the Rasagulla war that exists between the Bengal and Odisha claiming the ownership of Rasagulla.   

Reference of the story can be found in Sweet Invention: A History of Dessert by Michael Krondl and The Penguin Food Guide to India by Charmaine O'Brien 

Story narrated by Jyotica Sarkar Malik , a professional voice over artist 

In Delhi, Have Chaat at Chandi Chowk ! 

The sumptuous and versatile Chaat in Purani Dilli to many may be a non-healthy diet but it was started to cure people and to build the immunity. Trivia from the era of Shahjahan. 

Reference from the book : Daastan-e-Dastarkhan: Stories and Recipes from Muslim Kitchens by Sadaf Hussain (Hachette India) 

Narration by Mohit Gupta  

Late 1960s and Beatles stayed at a Ashram in Rishikesh and composed many songs. One of them which was never released in an album is Dehradun . Here is the song that will add to your experience in knowing the city of Rishikesh and Dehradun 

Contributed by Tarun Singhal who is a senior corporate professional in Gurgaon 

Narrated by Mohit Gupta

Book for the reference : Across The Universe: The Beatles In India by Ajoy Bose ( Penguin) 

Humans are not the only ones who fall ill , Gods too fall ill. Puri's Lord Jagannath is the commoner Almighty who falls sick every year after the bath and quarantines himself for 15 days . 

A mythological tale which also teaches us the value of self isolation when we are ill and are infected

Book for the reference - Rath Yatra by Subas Pani 

Narration by Mohit Gupta 

Ujjain is a city of some of the most intelligent people ever know including the 6th centure sage and mathemetician Varahmihira who studied clouds to predict the earthquakes. Even the present science has now started recognizing this science and started mentioning it 

Reference of the story comes from the book A Study In The Mathematical Contributions of Varahmihira And His Heritage by G S Pandey 

Story narrated by Jyotica Sarkar Malik who is a professional voice over artist

Dehradoon is one of the most charming cities of India, modern yet historical and has a very amazing reason to it's name. 

Listen to the reason for the city's name . 

Book to refer and read for such stories and explore the city : Been There Doon That - WALKING WITH LAATA : 50 Trails through Doon Valley's Living History & Nature

Narration by Abhishek Joshi 

In recent times you would have heard this saying ' Dilli Abhi Door Hai' in the political context but it was actually said as part of Dilli's politics almost 800 years ago by Nizammudin Auliya, the sufi saint of early 14th century

This fascinating story about Dilli is being narrated by Abhishek Joshi 

The reference book for this story is 'Delhi: Its Monuments and History' by Percival Spear

Meera the devotee of Lord Krishna who became a symbol of Bhakti Kaal went to the city of Dwarika in Gujrat to meet the Lord and something very magical happened there. Her temple has this story attached to her legend which is being narrated by Sonia Bareja in this episode.

Sonia aka ‘Pied Piper Sonia’ is a professional storyteller is the donor for this episode’s story

The reference book for this episode is Krishna: A Journey Through the Lands & Legends of Krishna by Dev Prasad

Story donated to us by Partha Sarthi Sen Sharma as :  

Kalakankar today is a small village on the banks of Ganga river, some 200 kms east from Lucknow, in the Pratapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh. But it was once the seat of a big zamindari called Kalakankar estate. Raja Dinesh singh, once Foreign minister of India, belonged to this family and the Rajbhawan still stands tall, right on the banks of Ganga like a floating ship. The illustrious Hindi poet Sumitra Nandan Pant lived in this building and edited a newspaper that used to be published from here in the heydays of the estate and must have composed many of his shringar ras poems from the terrace of Raj bhawan overlooking the river. Gandhiji himself had also come here as a guest of the family, at the height of freedom movement and the cement platform on which bonfire of foreign clothes were made still stands today. But all these remarkable facts still pale in comparison to the remarkable story of Joseph Stalin’s only daughter living here for months in 1967. You see Svetlana Alliluyeva, the only daughter of the Russian dictator, had fallen in love and married a Scion of the zamindari family, Brijesh Singh, uncle of Dinesh singh in a Moscow hospital where they both were recuperating. Brijesh singh was a communist leader and had been living in Moscow, the headquarters of USSR communist state then. But the remarkable love story had a tragic end as Brijesh singh died soon after. However, Svetlana, who had never ventured out of Russia till then, decided to come to India, to Kalakankar with the ashes of her late husband to immerse them in Ganga. This she did, lived in the village at a place called Prakash Grih, Brijesh’s house, and was naturally an object of curiosity for villagers all around. Stalin had died long ago and Svetlana was never enamoured with the communist totalitarian state. Soon after she caused an international diplomatic sensation by defecting from USSR to USA in New Delhi and lived the rest of life in USA. She wrote a remarkable memoir of her sojourn in India, in which Kalakankar finds naturally a very prominent place and of her thrilling defection later and is considered a classic in Russian. It’s English translation is called ‘only one year’ and gives vivid descriptions of the places, times and events of India of that time. So if you happen to visit Kalakankar sometime and ask the old people of the village somebody would still recall that ‘ Roosi tanashah ki beti’ and her golden hair.

The reference book for this story is Svetlana's autobiography ' Only One Year' 

Narration by Mohit Gupta 

During a deadly famine in Lucknow, Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula , did something very unique to engage the citizens and feed them with equanimity 

The reference of this story has been taken from Padamshri Yogesh Praveen's book ' Lucknow Nama' and the story is contributed and narrated by Jyotica Sarkar Malik 

How much a leader values the counterviews in the team ? 

This is a classic story where in the court of King Dashrath and Prince Ram was Sage Jabali who spoke his counterviews which made him an odd man out . His views of fulfilling parents wishes atop the responsibilities may not be agreeable to many programmed people but atleast there is a perspective . 

Utkarsh Patel , a noted mythologist and author , has narrated this story as he gets inspired by the book ' Valmiki's Ramanyana' by Arshia Sattar 

The story of Begum Samru is not much heard like the city of Sardhana ( near meerut) and this heroine of the past seeks justice to her fame . Shared by Partha Sarthi Sen Sharma , this story depicts the life of nautch girl rising up in the power circles of Indian politics almost 250 years ago . 

The story's reference is from the book ' The Begum Samru of Sardhana' by Mitchel Larleuin 

Narration by Mohit Gupta

He did what any great administrator should do but was still treated badly by the British Raj.  Listen to what a legend , Wajid Ali Shah was as narrated by noted scriptwriter and theater personality Atul Tiwari 

From the book ' Gujishta Lucknow' written by Abdul Halim Sharar  

Could you imagine that faizabad was a mega city 250 years ago and the city had traffic jams as the city used to be an important trading center.

Noted scriptwriter, actor, author and theater doyen , Atul Tiwari, narrates an incident from the book ' Gujishta Lucknow ( Bygone Lucknow )' authored by Abdul Halim Sharar 

A nerve chilling story of Nain Singh Rawat who mapped tibet that led britishers to create the map of the country. A native of Pithoragargh from Uttarakhand made a remarkable effort in the dangerous terrain . His books are being used as the best explorer guides till date . Google through it's doodle paid a special tribute to this son of Pithoragargh 

Story submission and narration by Abhishek Joshi, Founder , Let's Travel For  A Cause 

In this episode of Story Bank by City Book Leaders , noted mythologist and author Utkarsh Patel narrates the story of Mata Tanot Rai and her legend . It has the miraculous story of how this temple of Mata Tanot near jaisalmer was untouched by over 3000 shells dropped by Pakistan during a war with India

Did you know that the most famous Aarti of River Ganga on the ghats of Banaras was written by the son-in-law of Emperor Shahjahan, Jagannath Pandit

Hear this amazing tale of Banaras city's panchganga ghat and how a chaste hindu brahmin married the daughter of mughal emperor and how he sacrificed his life to be ever with his wife. 

This story is part of City Book Leaders initiative ' Story Bank' to bring not so known stories of cities of India and much more. 

शहर के किस्से , 

शहर की किताबें  किस्सों के सफर में एक और किस्सा  

This one is from the city Agra and is about a queen of Shahjahan, Sarhadi Begum, whose name has been vanished from the history  This story of the forgotten love is beyond the commonly known love story of Taj Mahal that we associate with Mumtaz and Shahjahan  

From the book ‘ दास्ताँ ऐ आगरा ( Dastan-E-Agra) by Mewaram