Getting Started

InfoAnyone can freely read my stories here. No need to login, register, subscribe or provide any personal details. No fees, no nags and no catch. I will strive to keep it that way.

I do not collect personal information, and consequently have no mailing list(s) or subscription(s) to inform you when new stories are published. You can however keep an eye out on my Social Networking Channels (see tags below for details).

There are many ways of navigating around this website. The most powerful are by using the search box at the top of all pages, and by clicking different menu options provided at the top and bottom of each page.

For English Language Stories:

For Hindi Language Stories:

are the best pages to Bookmark, Save As Favorite or set as Homepage in your browser for your future ease of access.

Language Selector (Dropdown)

taletown language selector

Will show at the top in all pages. Selecting Hindi or English while on different pages will get you different results. Eg., changing language from within a story will give you a story translation, if one exits. Since these are not dynamic translations like those done by Google Translator on the fly, multimedia used in the story or the story itself may differ slightly between the two language versions. Changing language on all other navigational pages will translate the navigation pages, only if we have translated them. This site is a work in progress, so full translation of everything will likely take decades.

Searchbox

taletown searchbox

Use this cylindrical search box at the top on any page, to search for stories by story titles, category titles, country names, continents, people, places, animals, or any other words of your interest.

TaleTown Social Media Icons - as shown in the above image, over the Searchbox, are now available on all pages. They contains links to TaleTown Social Media channels, and are different from the Like/Share/Follow type social buttons served at the bottom of each page. Use the top menu icons to comment on our social pages and the bottom menu buttons to like/share/+1/pin our content on your social pages.

New Stories / नई कहानियाँ page (link in Bottom Menu for both languages) acts as our Homepage. It displays latest stories as well as important changelogs and news updates besides welcoming you to TaleTown.Org. There are also some statistics displayed, which you may find interesting.

Literature / साहित्य page (link in Top Menu for both languages) takes you to the appropriate Language Library Index and displays all story categories available for that language.

Obviously, you can also navigate this multilingual library by clicking on any other visible hotlinks you see within stories, in their side modules or near the page end. Easy as that!

In the tabs below, you will find more updated information on how best to navigate this site and understand naming conventions used in stories, reuse my content and provide feedback, legal stuff and site policies, copyright and other issues, credits and social media etc.

This library is still being created and tested, so you may sometimes get unexpected results when you click on links. I thank you for your patience. I also hope to provide a Sitemap sometime in the future.

Top Menu Explained

taletown top menu

The Top Menu shows up underneath the logo on computers and tablets, but on mobiles, it needs to be opened by clicking the zipped button shown with 3 lines.

This button (mobiles only) sits right below the Language Selector Dropdown Menu on every page, no matter where and how deep you are in the site. Its options are:

Info / जानकारी (Hindi page still under construction) - Brings you back to this page no matter where you are in the libraries. If something has moved and you can't find it, come back to read this page again, as it will have been updated. The date this page was last updated is shown near the bottom of this page.

Literature / साहित्य (sahitya, meaning 'Literature' in Hindi) - Takes you to the English / Hindi stories categories index. There is also a Latest English Stories / हिन्दी की नई कहानियाँ (meaning, Latest Hindi Stories) module here, with links to latest stories. Click on any category hotlink (or image) to see a paginated list of stories (latest first) within that particular category, along with individual teaser texts for those stories.

Story Tags / कहानी टैग - Serves an alphabetically ordered full list of tags (in the appropriate language) used on TaleTown. Each tag name is followed by its quick description. Clicking on any tag name will display a paginated list of story links (oldest first) related to that tag, along with individual teaser texts for those stories. All stories are tagged and different stories have different tags. Tags provide a quick peek into the evolving character of our site's content.

Contacts - Shows you my contact information and provides a Contact Form. Use this to contact me or to send me your suggestions, reviews, objections or other feedback. 

Bottom Menu Explained

taletown bottom menuBottom Menu - is found at the bottom of each page. Here are its options currently:

New Stories / नई कहानियाँ - Takes you to the homepage for the appropriate language - where you can read new stories and latest notices in your preferred language.

Just in case nothing happens when you click on this menu option, click on the TaleTown logo at the top of any page, or on the Home hotlink at the bottom of all pages to return here (homepage).

This link is followed by links to the seven Story Categories for either language. Every story is linked to a category. So, use these to read stories directly by genre.

Since the separation of Hindi and English libraries affected all stories and links, saved older URLs may no longer work, until their redirection is completed. This could take years. In the meantime, please revisit your old favorites from Story Subcategory links on these pages, or google them, or use the Search box above.

Side Modules Explained

StoriesDifferent Modules are seen on the right side of the page in computers and tablets, or near the bottom of the page in mobiles.

Keep an eye out for changing Story links served inside these modules, depending on where you are (Story, Story Category and Story Tags pages etc.) and what you've been reading. I use cookies (see tags below for more info) to enhance your readability experience. 

Eg., Within all Story Category pages, you get to see lists of URLs (Uniform Resource Locators, or hotlinks) in the Category Top Stories / श्रेणी में टॉप कहानियाँ  module. This is a list of most read stories in that particular category. You can click through to your desired stories from these hotlinks too.

Did You Know That?/ क्या आप जानते हैं? Module - is available only on the Homepage, to update you briefly on changelogs or interesting statistics.

Swagat! Haeremai! Module - also only on the Homepage, welcomes you to TaleTown. Welcome is 'Swagat' in Hindi, my native tongue, and 'Haeremai' in Maori, the native tongue of my adopted land. This module gives you a quick overview about TaleTown and what to expect from it.

Latest English Stories / हिन्दी की नई कहानियाँ module is now on Literature / साहित्य page. It serves links to the latest stories on our site.

Recently Modified / हाल ही में संशोधित Stories module is now on the Contacts/संपर्क page. It links to new or old stories which have recently been modified in some way.

Top New Stories / टॉप नई कहानियाँ module is now on Story Tags / कहानी टैग page. It serves links for the most read current stories on our site.

Top TaleTown Tags / सबसे कम प्रचलित टैग module is also now on Story Tags / कहानी टैग page. It serves links for the current most used tags on the English site, but the current least used tags on the Hindi site.

Inside Story Pages

Love Story tagsAll my stories relate to the journey of one blood line, as its multiple generations struggled, survived and began to find their place in the world.

They trace the travails of this one family across multiple countries in six continents as the offspring took roots or grew wings, settled or dispersed, prospered materially or sought spiritually.

Since most parts have not yet been written, some are being written, and many will hopefully continue to be written long in the foreseeable future, some disconnect is going to remain if you have been faithfully following the threads and trying to read these stories as one seamless novel.

Regardless of this disconnect, following these stories in sequence, reading story sequels wherever provided, still remains the best way to enjoy them and get perspective.

Sequels to stories, where they are available, can be read by clicking on story name hotlinks, shown beside Previous TaleTown Story: / पिछली टेलटाउन कहानी: or Next TaleTown Story: / अगली टेलटाउन कहानी: placeholders near the top or bottom of the pages within individual stories.

Obviously, you can also choose to read them just within a category or tag you are interested in, or by search results of a keyword or phrase using the Search box. To read stories by publication dates instead, use < Prev or Next > buttons, page number links or << and >> arrows near the page ends.

Hover your mouse over hotlinks within stories to read more information which appears in info bubbles, or to see where the information/stats used in the story were sourced from. Click on these hotlinks to go directly to those external/internal resources.

All story pages also serve side modules titled Similar Tagged Tales/ ऐसी और कहानियाँ and Stories You May Like / ये कहानियाँ आपके लिए, which recommend stories with tags or keywords (respectively) matching those in your current story. On the odd occasion, you may also get an unrelated story recommendation simply due to a tag/keyword match between unrelated stories.

For example, the keyword Oil may be linked with different types of stories. A mining story (Real-Life Category) has oil drilling. A cooking story (How To Category) uses cooking oil. A business or news story (Business or Real Life category respectively) may be talking about bribes, as in oiling the palms etc.

Index Of In-Frame Characters Only

DLIFLC Language Day 2015Only characters in stories published to date, Names in Alphabetical Order

Ash ............. Husband of Neha, Rosh's brother-in-law

Dev ............. Rosh's grandfather, father of Qosh

Dhir ............. Son of Qosh and Sneh

Hosh ............ Elder son of Rosh and Isha, Josh's brother

Isha .............. Rosh's wife, mother of Hosh and Josh

Josh ............. Younger son of Rosh and Isha, Hosh's brother

Josh's friends: Jignesh, Sam ...

Maan ............ Son of Qosh and Sneh, brother of Rosh, Dhir & Neha

Neha ............ Daughter of Qosh and Sneh, wife of Ash

Noor ............. Qosh's first wife, mother of Rosh

Qosh ............ Rosh's father, son of Dev, husband of Noor and Sneh

Rosh ............ Son of Qosh and Noor, husband of Isha, father of Hosh and Josh

Rosh's friends: Anand, Bhavna, CK, Inder, Mukesh, Shank, Suman, Sunny ...

Seema ..........Rosh's cousin sister

Shan .............Isha's brother

Sneh .............Qosh's second wife, mother of Dhir, Maan and Neha

Naming Conventions

My NameTo the extent practically possible, ancient Indian names and terms have been spelt as they sound phonetically in their respective languages. This can however, significantly disadvantage my content in Search Engine discovery, content recognition, classification and placement.

Using both the popular as well as phonetically correct nomenclature in my stories then, seemed a reasonable compromise. So, terms like Atma and Brahm have been used more frequently throughout this library instead of the more common Atman and Brahman, as seen in their usual English transliterations everywhere.

The former is how they sound phonetically in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Brahmi, Pali and Hindi languages - the languages that have been used historically in India, in the preaching, writing and discussions of the Vedic content.

Similarly, Shankar has been used more when talking of Shankaracharya instead of the more common Shankara or Samkara, as the former is closer to its phonetic use in India. Shiv is also called Shankar. I have also used the popular Siva, Shiva or Lord Shiva, but tried limiting their use for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) only.

For similar reasons, Advait has been used more instead of Advaita, Dvait more instead of Dvaita, Sacchidanand more instead of Sacchidananda, Shlok more instead of Shloka, or Sloka etc.

Where these nouns have been quoted by others, their usage in the quotations has not been changed, but the “a” that inevitably follows Indian names in western literature has been dispensed with, wherever practicable.

For these reasons, expect to read names more as Gautam, Buddh, Raam, and Krishn respectively throughout this library instead of Gautama, Buddha, Rama, and Krishna etc.

Suggestions, Reviews And Objections

FeedbackYou don't need to create an account and become a Registered User to submit suggestions, questions, reviews, error reports, Copyright or Intellectual Property (IP) objections to TaleTown.

For attributing my work or anything else, you can also interact with me through my various social network URLs (See Connections tab for more info).

I am not a programmer. So, suggestions to me will be more useful if they could be accompanied with as many of the following as you can provide, to point me in the right direction:

  • what is wrong,
  • why you think it is wrong,
  • which URL to refer to or
  • whom to contact,
  • where to look for further information/learning or stats and
  • how to rectify it.

Freedom of speech and use of poetic license carry a duty of responsible use. I am aware of this and make a conscious effort to never cross the line, but do let me know if you have been offended by something.

I am unable to respond to individual submissions and comments due to limited resources, and cannot promise to unpublish/ amend all content found offensive by someone, but I do appreciate your patronage and your engagement with my work.

Some of you have asked if you can donate or help further this free online resource in some other way. Thanks for your thoughtfulness and generosity, but really, I expect nothing in return. Just read, rate and enjoy. Spread the word if you wish, personally or online, so more people can benefit from the gift of these stories.

Attributions And Referencing

the fine print under all the beautyTo keep my content area uncluttered, while ensuring appropriate attributions are made and link backs provided for external media used on site reasonably, I do the following things:

  • As a courtesy, I always leave a note of thanks on external photo and video pages, whose media I have used, with a link-back provided to my site pages, should someone wish to see how and where their content has been used, embedded or referenced.
  • Link backs are provided for all external media used (except for mini versions of Flickr images used with story teaser texts, for technical reasons). Clicking on any image or video title, from within any story, takes you back to the up-loader's photo-stream or video page, which has their details and relevant information on their copyright, license, privacy and other policies etc., should these have been provided there.
  • Contributor information is allowed to appear when the reader’s mouse hovers over the Flickr image. Contributor information entered by content up-loaders in ALT-text areas is also not altered, so readers can see all and any information contributors have entered there.
  • To provide a seamless readability experience to my readers, attribution information is therefore, not separately noted beside the external media used within the story (except where copyright images have been used, or media used under Fair Use) or anywhere else on the page. For the same reason, I do not publish many details for my own stories like date/time they were created/modified, information on associated tags etc. within the stories themselves.
  • References to other sources, credit given for them or attributions made, and explanatory notes etc. are also provided only through hotlinks and info bubbles when readers hover over a link. Generally, I also try to italicize quotes or borrowed phrases I have used in my stories. Please let me know if you find something in my content for which these things have not been done. If the source can be referenced and authenticated, I will remedy it as soon as possible.
  • Where external media is to be used only temporarily before being replaced with something else, as in content rotators on my site, unlike their relatively more permanent use within stories, I have now stopped placing my acknowledgements, as link-backs become misleading when the media is rotated out of use.

Eg., after temporarily using Mike's commons image http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikerbaker/5429524286/, I commented on his Flickr page: "Beautiful work Mike. I used your image to illustrate the welcome message on TaleTown homepage. Thanks for sharing." When this image was rotated out, the link-back from Flickr to the now amended Swagat! Haeremae! module on TaleTown New Stories page became misleading. Also, some rotator modules are so small (Did You Know? module is just a line long), that a line of attribution underneath my content in them, even in small font, can become bigger than the content itself.

Regretfully also, sometimes some Flickr photos, YouTube videos and even webpages become unavailable for various reasons or get taken down due to copyright issues by their service providers. This can also happen after I have referenced or used them in good faith, provided a link back and given appropriate attributions.

I endeavor to replace such media on discovery, but sometimes I may not be able to remove credit already provided, as the content has been removed and/or the account been closed by service providers etc.

Seamless readability for my readers is my top goal, but I do not wish to achieve that by compromising on attributions. Any suggestions to improve on my current system are welcome. I would be happy to use a reliable plugin eg., that can automatically publish illustrator info taken from alt-tags, alongside author name.

Also, should anyone still have reservations that their work has not been attributed properly or used inadequately, please let me know. Rest assured, it will be replaced with something else immediately.

Disclaimers, Policies, Rights

TED en peligro (Explore!)I serve all story text under CC BY-NC 4.0 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Unported License.

External images or other media in my stories may have copyrights or be served under different Creative Commons or other Licenses.

For all third party content published in my stories, please refer to the Alt-text on work, if any, or directly contact the source of that work through linkbacks or references provided.

Please note that media used within a story may seem related but may or may not actually have any relationship with me or the rest of the content at all.

Publication of any work or opinion here, including content within the stories, does not imply that I endorse or warrant the work or opinion, its presentation or its effects in any way.

Resemblance in any content served here with any person living or dead is purely coincidental. While care is taken to ensure that information provided here is true and accurate at the time of writing, and wherever possible, endorsed as such by an author, referee, external source, relevant practitioner or expert, it is necessarily of a general nature and should not be relied upon in any way to make any decisions or form any opinions. You use it at your own risk. Please take professional advise suited to your individual circumstances from relevant experts before using or relying on any information provided on this site.

Since I take Privacy seriously, I do not seek or collect any individually-identifiable private information about my readers directly. However, to efficiently use my online marketing budget, I use Google AdWords Remarketing and Conversion Tracking to show TaleTown ads online to my existing and new readers through third-party vendors, including Google.

These agencies display ads to my readers based on what parts of my site they had visited earlier, by placing a limited-time cookie on their web browsers. Conversion data provided to me isn't enough for me to identify them in any way or get access to their internet-enabled devices like computers or mobiles etc.

These cookies help these agencies to show you more relevant ads based on your recent viewing behaviors. If you do not wish to see my ads, you can opt out in several ways:

1. Opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting Google’s Ads Settings
2. Opt out of a third-party vendor’s use of cookies by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page.
3. Opt out of DoubleClick's use of cookies by visiting the DoubleClick opt-out page

I do not accept any responsibility to any person for the accuracy, suitability or consequences of the information provided on this site. For the avoidance of doubt, by using TaleTown, you agree to hold harmless to the maximum extent permitted by law - I and my agents, TaleTown.Org, its officers, owners, and contributors and NOT LIABLE for any harm or loss you may incur from using us.

All our terms and conditions are governed by the laws in force in New Zealand and you irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of New Zealand. Please do not use TaleTown or reuse my content, if you do not agree with our policies. We reserve the right to change any of our policies at any time without giving reason or notice.

Content Reuse

Content consumerIt is nice to know that someone found your work useful. It is also insightful if you can discover how it was able to serve them.

You can let us know you have reused our content using any of our social media channels (see Connections tab for more info).

Eg., post a link in comments on our Facebook page -https://www.facebook.com/taletown.org, write on our Facebook wall or send us a message through Facebook, stating how you have reused our work.

You can reuse our work non-commercially in your blogs, websites, or on your own social media pages so long as you comply with licenses associated with the work being reused.

To get a better understanding of the Creative Commons Licenses, click on this black (CC) BY-NC button Creative Commons License or google its full License name (provided at the bottom of this page).

You can also email us directly to get Story-specific attribution HTML code to copy and paste with reused content directly into your blogs, websites or on social media. Below is an example of what it looks like:

taletown.org Story-specific attribution code sample

You MUST NOT USE ANY work published here in commercial projects or where money is being made by you or someone else, without first negotiating a license release from all its author(s). Some media can also not be changed in any way without their author's express permission.

There are however, no restrictions on emailing these stories to your family, friends, workmates or groups for personal, educational or non-commercial use, or on sharing their links in your social networks.

Credits and Acknowledgements

thank you note for every language

I thank my readers. You gave me the motivation to keep creating.

I also thank all those who have contributed works and wisdom freely over the Internet since the Internet began.

TaleTown.Org would not be what it is today, without the free resources made available to all on the Internet, by the following teams:

  • Joomla!
  • Joomla! Extension Developers & Forum members
  • Google
  • Wikipedia
  • Flickr
  • YouTube
  • Creative Commons

Individual credits for specific story ideas, as well as for quotes, sayings, references, and media used, appear in text balloons/info bubbles on hovering over media or hotlinks presented within stories. Thank You all!

Many caring people helped me personally in this journey. I am deeply grateful to you all for your friendship, guidance, and support. Of special mention amongst these are Rohit Sharma, my sons Paras Wadhwa and Himanshu Wadhwa, and my extended family. Thank you.

Without my wife Swati Wadhwa, who did everything required to run our household, I could neither have had the time to learn how to create or manage TaleTown, nor the opportunity to continue crafting the stories that made TaleTown as big as it is now. Thank you, Swati.

Advertisements

funny-ads-18I am not against ads, but I have tried to keep everything adfree to enhance your reading experience here.

Still, some borrowed media, like YouTube videos that you may see within my stories, may be commercials or may have third party ads.

I use them for their creative content, and not for their marketing message, but sometimes the two are inseparable. I have no control over these but you can choose not to view such media, if you so desire.

Skipping videos embedded within stories will, however, reduce your story experience and/or understanding, as they were included to complement or supplement the story theme/message in this new breed of multimedia stories.

Connections

Domain Name ExtensionsThis website with .org domain is my ONLY online enterprise.

TaleTown.Org has NO sister sites, NO apps, NO other domain names or extensions.

It has NO affiliations or association - commercial or otherwise - with any other organizations or businesses, including the following:

  • Taletown Limited, Company Number SC204216, Incorporated UK, 23/02/2000, Dissolved ?28/02/2001.
  • TaleTown: A Facebook Game, Created by Jude W Mire that raised $6,142 on Kickstarter during Mar 13 2011 - Jun 12 2011 (90 days).
  • Taletown.com registered by Nick Bowles, UK, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. on 2000-01-06.

Following are the only TaleTown.Org pages on various social networks:

About Us

2012-259 A Writing Six-Word Story

TaleTown is not a business, does not publish for money, asks for no donations or other favors, and collects no private information.

It is the world's only authentic collection of meangful, global short stories and tales retold by Rajeev Wadhwa, both in English and in Hindi.

I began writing these stories for my son. Perhaps he'll read them someday!

यारब न वो समझें हैं, न समझेंगे मेरी बात
दे और दिल उनको, जो न दें मुझको जुबां और

Since I wanted to make my stories interesting for him, I fused multimedia with multidimensional messages in multilingual literature - using image, audio and/or video with text in every Hindi and English story. TaleTown became World's 1st Multilingual Multimedia Literature.

I hadn't planned it to be this way. All I had wanted was to be with my son, telling him my stories the old fashioned way. But he grew up too soon, and the Internet changed the world around us too fast.

I had to compete for his attention and make time to be with him. But I also wanted to work hard, so he could have the material things others around him had. I probably failed him on both counts.

What must one do then, with what one has gathered in life? One can't take it with them. If it isn't shared, it would be destroyed and lost forever, for all.

त्वदीयं वस्तु गोविन्दं, तुभ्यमेव समर्पये (twadiyam vastu govindam, tubhyamev samarpaye)

Meaning: Everything that I have, is given to me by you, O Govind (God). I submit everything to you. O Nature! From thee are all things, in thee all things subsist, and to thee all tend. I submit what is yours, back to you.

We plant seeds of those fruit-trees too, that we know we may never get to eat the fruits of, ourselves. But someone else will. And that someone else will also be part of our huge animate family. Because the whole world, is but one family. वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम (Vasudhaev kutumbkam)!

So, it makes sense to plant those seeds and make those fruits accessible freely. I have planted the seeds I gathered, and made this literature available to the world without copyrights. It is only right that I do so, for it was the world who gave me this knowledge in the first place.

Content reuse with attribution promotes symbiosis. So, TaleTown.Org became World's 1st Online Library Of Multimedia Multilingual Creative Commons Stories served freely worldwide, both in English as well as in Hindi.

Happiness comes from being engaged in meaningful work. Draw the art you want to see, make the music you want to hear, write the books you want your kids to read. You will love it, as half the fun is in getting there.

I received great contentment in creating these stories. I hope you too, find in them something useful, some joy or learning, something which touches you or brightens your day ...

80x15CCBYNC4 TaleTown Stories Creative Commons License Except where otherwise noted, all our stories are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Contact us for permissions beyond the scope of this license.