NILAH's PAATI, THE STORYTELLER

Paati is full of warmth, mischief, and stories. She adores Nilah and her siblings and always finds ways to spoil them—an extra piece of jaggery here, a sweet mango pickle there. Her kitchen is filled with bottles of pickles and relishes, all made with recipes passed down over the years. Nilah’s Amma learnt every one of them from Paati, along with tips that never made it into any book—like when to add mustard seeds based on the sound of the sputter.
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More than her cooking, Paati is known for her stories. She has one for everything—the hills, the rain, the birds, the trees. She’ll point at a patch of grass and say that’s where a peacock once danced just for her. She’ll tell Nilah that the Kurinji flowers bloomed early one year because she sang to them every morning. Nilah has heard these tales enough times to know when they’re a bit stretched. But she never says so. She just listens, wide-eyed, because Paati loves to be believed.
Sometimes, the stories get Paati into small trouble. Like when she told the new forest officer that she once helped a bear find its way back home. Or when she claimed she’d seen a bison cry real tears during a thunderstorm. People usually smile, nod, and only realise later that they’ve been taken for a ride. Paati doesn’t mind. She simply laughs and says, “Aiyo, it’s just a story. Don’t take everything so seriously.”
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What Nilah loves most is that with Paati, the Nilgiris never felt ordinary. Every stone has a secret. Every breeze carries a message. Even a squirrel chattering on a branch becomes part of some grand tale from the past. The stories may be embroidered and twisted, but they come from a deep love for the land. And while Nilah knows not everything is true, she also knows that truth isn’t the only thing that makes a story worth telling. She listens, remembers, and sometimes wonders which stories she’ll carry forward—and what little twists she might add of her own.