Hello hello lovely earthlings, I don’t know how long it’s been since I shared some stories but I decided that enough is enough and that it is time to get out of my hiatus :-) so here we are with a 9 episode series on the beautiful festival of the Navaratras (nine nights) and the nine forms of the Supreme mother Goddess - Durga / Shakti. As we welcome Ma (Mother) into our homes, we will aim to understand the significance of not simply worshipping the divine but recognising that we ARE divinity ourselves and all that we seek is truly within. Alright alright, I am sensing a lot of enlightenment which is prompting me to say deeply spiritual and existential things for which I make no apologies :-))) I hope you enjoy this series - I will drop a new episode each day so I look forward to your love. Stay blessed and joyful always!! Much love, see you soon!! ❤️

The Elephant’s child: Hello hello my lovely people! How are you today? I was about to ‘Hope you’re well’ you and then realised that it’s the last thing you want to hear if you’re not that well. So all i just want to say that I’m so happy if you’re well but equally I feel you if you’re not that well and that it’s ok to feel like that. Be kind to yourself please - no one is here to judge so just please take some time out to live yourself, unwind and perhaps listen to a few stories because stories can heal. That’s what my dear friend Sonia keeps reminding me of and I am so grateful to her for her love and encouragement and grace and so I dedicate this episode to her today as she feels poorly today. I hope that this simple, light as air story by the inimitable Rudyard Kipling (written in 1902 starting off its life as bedtime stories told to his little girl Josephine ‘just so’) makes you smile just like your words make everyone who read them, fill up with joy and emotion. Get well soon my friend! To all my little friends and their Mums and Dads who are listening to this, thank you for your support and for listening always. Stay healthy, stay safe, read a lot, listen to music and stories and don’t forget to be fully, freely and wholly yourselves. All my love, M xx

Hello hello lovely people! I hope you are all well and keeping warm if you, like me, are in the U.K because it is freezing at the moment!! Nothing helps me feel better than reading a book so I thought I would continue with the Amar Chitra Katha series and give you a glimpse of the beloved publication we grew up reading! Today’s story is about a valiant, just and honourable young prince who went on to become an extraordinary powerful and successful king whose empire extended beyond the Hindu Kush mountains. I hope you enjoy hearing this story and I look forward to sharing more from the ACK stables!! In the meantime, stay safe, keep smiling, read and listen to all the things that make you joyful and take care of yourselves! Much love and moonshine, Me xx

Hello earthlings!!! How are we all? I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy happy new year and I hope that 2022 brings you good health, abundance (of all the good things) and sees you doing all the things you didn’t, couldn’t or weren’t able to do. I honestly cannot believe that this is my first episode after May 2021 - in many ways, 2021 felt so much more difficult for so many more reasons and motivation was at an all time low. I hope to remedy all that and publish more regularly! For now though, a slice of comfort and of my childhood for those times when you most need it 🤗 This episode is dedicated to one of my most favourite boys, Roy Ganguly who is currently poorly with what else (eye roll🙄) and needs loads of TLC and many stories!! I hope you all enjoy it especially if you’re unwell or just feeling meh and I certainly hope Raman, the smart and funny court jester in King Krishnadevaraya’s kingdom of Vijayanagar (south India) from many moons back, brings a little bit of sunshine to your day with his wit and quick thinking! Stay well, stay joyful and keep reading my lovely people! Toodles!! 🤗🤗❤️❤️

When the heart is heavy and I am lost, I head for the love and comfort of the only place I know outside of my Mama’s welcoming arms - books. They hug me in their warmth and offer me solace and when it’s a book written by my all time favourite other Bond, Ruskin Bond, it’s all the more special. As I think and pray for my country, reading his words allows me to feel closer to my homeland, even when I’m thousands of miles away. Wishing that all this ends soon and that there is light at the end of the tunnel for humanity as a whole. Praying for respite, healing and recovery for my country and its lovely people. I hope you enjoy hearing this story - my apologies for more than a few slip ups while reading, I was too exhausted to retake those bits and have just kept the unedited version. Stay safe everyone, for my peeps in India. stay home if you don’t need to absolutely head out, mask up and please practise social distancing. Keep reading and keep staying positive - we will get over this together ❤️❤️🙏🙏🌈🌈

Hello lovely folks!! Hope you’ve been well. There seems to be light at the end of the COVID tunnel it appears, hallelujah! 🙏🙏🙏😍😍🌺🌺 Thank you Lord! Today we are going to pay tribute to the incredibly talented Sylvia Plath who has given the world of literature some spectacular gems. It is so tragic that she passed on so young but today I want to remember her with fondness and heaps of joy as I re-read this most wonderful story about fitting in, that is applicable to both children and adults alike, as a dedication to one of Ani’s besties and one of my favourite girls who has just turned 10 today. Happy birthday Avni, I wish you joy, love, lots of books, cake and I hope for all you kids that you do what’s right for you and what makes you happy - don’t try to conform to either what others do or to what you think others expect from you! Stay safe, stay sane, keep reading and remember it really doesn’t matter :-) ❤️❤️🙏🙏🌺🌺🌺🌞🌞🧘🏻‍♀️🏭📚📚📚

Happy World Book Day lovely earthlings! There’s so much I want to say on this hallowed day but for now all I will say is stay calm and read on, in this case, listen on! I hope you find magic in places you least expect and on that note, here are some stories of magical mythology from across the world. The first two episodes from Anita Nair’s brilliantly written and compiled Magical Indian myths ❤️❤️⚡️⚡️ and the first episode has a mystery guest from the USA 😄😄 I hope you enjoy it! Stay safe, stay healthy, make magical memories and carry on reading!! #worldbookday2021 #everydayisbookday #storytelling #worldmythology #magicalindianmyths #booksgivemelife

Hello all smalls and not so smalls of God’s wide and wonderful world. I hope you’re well. I hope you know that it’s ok even if everything isn’t hunky dory and I hope you know it’s much more than ok if you need to reset the clock and just re-start a task or re-look at something differently. I don’t want to give you advice but I just hope that you don’t forget to take care of yourself, peel yourself away from the screen, get at least 30 minutes of outdoor exercise, eat and drink well and read a few pages of a book every single day to nourish your soul. This has not been an easy time so I hope that listening to some of these stories has made you happy and filled your days with giggles, wonder, fun and excitement. Thank you Maria for giving us the gift of this book, showing us fierce, independent and fearless women and taking us on this thrilling adventure filled with magic and travels, with you!! Hope you all have as much of a blast reading it as we did

Hello lovely people! How have you all been doing? Have you been following this swashbuckling adventure with an all girls pirate gang!! There’s lots of thrills and drills and not a moment goes by when you can just chill cos you never know what lies ahead! Part 3 of reading this fabulous book has dropped so make sure you’re up to speed and finish Part 2 pronto! Have a wonderful day ya’ll, stay safe, keep your love for books burning strong and don’t forget to find your own stories ! Toodles

Helllo lovely folks and happy Thank-God-it’s-not-Monday-and-just-two-days-from-being-Friday :-))) 💥🤣🤣💪🏼💪🏼👍🏼👍🏼 Hope you are keeping your spirits up and finding things that spark joy and love in your hearts to keep you going during this time that seems to be an extension of another (lockdown) time except with no real clarity :-) But hey ho, we plough on and think of happy things and today’s definitely a day to rejoice as it’s the 9th birthday of a dear friend’s daughter who is my daughter’s namesake and one of my favourite little people in this world 💕💕💕😍😍 So naturally, this story is dedicated to you darling Anika. Happy birthday sweetheart - I wish you magic, love, happiness, adventure and heaps of stardust. Dream big and conquer the world !!! And remember to always believe in yourself and be full of inner confidence! Hope you and all the little and big people listening to this story will enjoy it and take some amazing life lessons from the collection of Mr. Bond’s many treasures 🤗🤗🤗💕💕🎂🎂😍😍 Stay safe all, keep reading and treasure all the happiness you can find 👍🏼🙏💪🏼💜 #birthdaydedication #ruskinbond #lifelessons #confidence #selfbelief #storiesforfamilies