When I was a small girl I loved to sit and listen to stories that holy men visiting my father's palace used to tell.They were about gods and goddesses and places of pilgrimage that they visited. I was charmed by the songs they sang and learned many myself, which I used to sing when I was alone and felt sad. When other girls played with their dolls I spent my time in the family temple, plucking flower and herbs, making chandan paste, threading garlands for the sacred idols ,who were all very alive to me. I talked to them and