Week 7 Story: "A Letter to the Author"

Writing a Letter. Source: Flickr

Dear Mr Narayan,

On behalf of my community, I would like you to stop writing us into your stories. Most of my kind are already tempted to be suing you, Dear Sir. Do you know how tired I am of being blamed in those tales? Over and over you write us as the devious character, the one that leads the protagonists astray, or the one that's always the source of some trouble. I am sick of it! We as a species are sick of it, Sir.

First, it was the whole mess with Sita and Rama. Alright, I know we are mesmerising and we do have a certain graceful, dare I be saying, divine, appearance but good sir, I implore you, do you really think a deer would lead the great Rama astray? Why couldn't you pick a slimy snake or a fearsome grizzly bear? Perhaps even a nasty hyena? Perfect little storytelling element right there, I might be adding. You could say he got his comeuppance from Rama and Lakshamana in the middle of his laughter! Or what about a golden crocodile? Well, not all crocodiles are bad of course. There's this guy named Phil down the road, he's a vegetarian. Sworn off meat ten years now, or so he says. I'm still sure Bambi's disappearance two years ago —sorry, sorry there I go wandering off topic! (I must be fit into your stereotypes already). I digress.

But good sir, you could have picked any other animal! Just yesterday, I'm here, getting into my nightly routine, a little grazing on the rug and a back scratch against the tree in my living room. Put on my spectacles, and grabbed a mug of nectar to settle in to read The Mahabhrata, rated 5 stars by Forest Today (only 4 stars by Animal's Magazine, minding you). And look at that! Within the first few chapters, you'd already written in a deer as a character that had led King Satanu to some fishy woman, begging for her son to become king and undermining Ganga's son, Bhishma. Sir, good sir, I had absolute appall!

And it didn't stop there. Again, sometime later in the book our kind was being cited as stealing from a sage. I have never stole anything in my life. Well, there was that time where my sister left those twigs out in the open, but I wouldn't call quick nibble a stealing! Many of us have had to go to therapy from your books. My cousin Stagg had to go to rehab again. You put him back on the mushrooms! The pure humiliation and disgrace you have brought upon our kind. I was so ready to give you a 7/10 for The Ramayana until that 'golden deer' fiasco.

If you're truly insistent on making us the bad guys, at least do it properly. You don't even write us in as major antagonists. We're minor troubles on the wayside, starting problem as an accomplice to a much larger problem. Our crimes should have magnificent and our evil grandeur fawned over by adoring admirers. Just think, they would never see it coming. Our innocent eyes and cute fluffy tails would deceive them all. Another perfect storytelling element I've given you! (Please remember where you got ideas from and be giving credit).

In closing, I wish you will take all of this into a deep consideration, Dear Sir, for my hooves are sore from all writing. I await your reply Mr Narayan, and hope your next book will be more representing of us!

Yours Deerly,
An Angered Reader

"The Signature", Deer Print. Source: Pinterest

Reference: R K. Narayan. The Mahabharata, [Print].

*Author's Note: I decided to write a letter from a deer's point of view, because I noticed that in both Narayan's version of the two Indian Epics we've covered, there is trouble caused whenever a deer is mentioned. In the Ramayana, Sita is captured because Rama chases after a golden deer she asked for, which is actually a trick courtesy of Ravana, the demon king. In The Mahabhrata, there are also several cases where a deer is seen as trouble to the plot. In the beginning, King Satanu chases a deer and finds a beautiful woman who he wants to claim as his bride, but is only allowed to do so if he ensures that her son will be his heir and he takes away the title from Ganga's son, Bhishma. In another case, a strong stag uses its antlers to steal wood from a sage, leading the Pandavas to their next difficult trial after their years in exile. Four of the five brothers die in their pursuit of this 'criminal' deer and although they are resurrected, it is clearly painful for the remaining brother who must answer a hundred questions to save them. Therefore, I imagined an angry reader in the form of a deer who felt highly misrepresented in Narayan's depictions, who writes to him. I also purposefully used some words, the style, and made errors, especially in spelling and grammar, where I thought a deer just might. I know it's full of puns and silly jokes, but it was definitely fun to write, so I hope it's a little fun to read!