Other Side Of Story

Category: Articles/Opinion
Written by: Lubna Shahid (on January 14, 2008 - 01:53 PM)

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“Ringa ringa roses

  Pocket full of posses

  Husha busha

  We all fall down..”

  And they did!

  A pretty nursery poetry that makes me remember my childhood days. In those days when we used to sing this nursery rhym, no one had in their mind that this poetry have actually a background to it. A dark back background actually.

 Centuraries ago, when black plague engulfed Europe, thousands and thousands died of plague. First red round spot would appear on the face and they used to smell so gross that people used to put posses in their pockets to avoid foul smell. Eventually those with round spots red as roses died in hundreds and thousands. Someone with black humor invented the lyrics that later become popular song for kids.

 Since we are talking about other side of stories, let me tell you about Queen Mary who was beheaded in French revolution. She was famous because she was the one who said; ‘if people don’t have bread to eat why don’t they eat cake’. Historians believe that she was NOT the one who said it. It was actually an old aunt of royal family who uttered these words, coincidently her name was Mary as well. Remember ‘Jack & Jill’? Jack is actually King Louis and Jill is Queen Mary. Toppling off from the hill represent their death. Bucket full of water represents their kingdom.

 Cinderella, a fairy tale story so prettily portrayed in Disney movie is actually a gruesome tale originally written for adults that was later toned town for children. In actual version, Cinderella tore the eyes of her stepmother and sisters and fed it to crows instead of forgiving them.

 Even local folk stories are something quite different in reality than what is actually popular among the masses. Take laila mujnu for example. Laila actual name was Lubna and was not at all fair and pretty. Infact she was dark, fat and ugly. Qais was called mujnu because he was in love with the ugliest girl possible. My Urdu teacher once told me that some historians believed that they got married so their story didn’t end in tragedy. Very interesting for this LubnaJ

 Come to think of it, so many things and traditions become the part of our lifestyles actually have quite unsettling origins. They may not be so very beneficial for us but still its quite interesting to know other side of story.

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