If you walk into any government office anywhere around the world you will always find a framed photo of a national leader. Well - if you were to walk into any brothel in the Mumbai red light district you will find, in every room a framed photo of a woman - an elderly, grey haired woman in a white sari edged with a gold border. No, she is not a saint. This was Gangubai, one of the most powerful madams in her time. But why, 50 years after her death, does every Mumabi sex worker have Gangubai’s photo in her room? Disclaimer: one scene of violence with adult themes Follow me on Instagram @seemaanandstorytelling Script by Yasser Usman @yasser.usman Music by Merlin D’Souza @musicbymerlin Artwork by @rsdcreative Supported by ECDP @essexcdp and Active Essex @active_essex

“Deception is a necessary skill of state craft”, said the guru to the young princes, his students, “but for it to be successful it has to be practiced as an art form, it must be planned such that not even God knows what you are doing.” Surely all is fair in love and war. And after all what could go wrong! A wonderful old story from the Hitupdesh, a 2nd century text written to teach young princes how to rule a kingdom both in times of war and in times of peace. This story has been adapted from "The Blue Lotus", an anthology of Indian myths, published by Aleph India. Follow me on Instagram @seemaanandstorytelling Music by Merlin D’Souza @musicbymerlin Supported by ECDP @essexcdp Supported by Active Essex @active_essex Artwork by @rsdcreative

The gods and demons churn the ocean for the nectar of immortality, a potion that will give them everlasting life and superhuman strength. They churn together in a spirit of collaboration but each is determined to cheat the other out of their share of the nectar and keep it just for themselves. This is a story that goes back to the beginning of time and yet it is a story that could have happened yesterday - depictions, power struggles, promises made and broken and the ongoing struggle for survival in the face of all odds. The samudra manthan is originally told in the Srimad Bhagwatam and is the most famous of the Hindu creation stories. Follow me on Instagram @seemaanandstorytelling Music by Merlin D’Souza @musicbymerlin Supported by ECDP @essexcdp Supported by Active Essex @active_essex Artwork by @rsdcreative

“If you must breathe to stay alive then Ashwin to me is like breath. I don’t need food or water to survive, just the beautiful memories of our time together. I can happily live on that.” That was Nita Naik, in an interview to journalist Hussain zaidi, in 1997, declaring her deep and undying love for her fugitive gangster husband Ashwin Naik. Exactly 3 years later she was gunned down, in broad daylight, outside her house, on his orders.

Where did it all go wrong?

A blood stained tale of the Mumbai underworld, of a woman, a gangster and destiny.

Follow me on Instagram @seemaanandstorytelling

Script by Yasser Usman @yasser.usman

Music by Merlin D’Souza @musicbymerlin

Supported by ECDP @essexcdp

Supported by Active Essex @active_essex

Artwork by @rsdcreative

Possibly the strangest story I’ve ever heard and I can promise you it will definitely be the strangest that you have ever come across. This is one of the a “rescued” story from an ancient Sanskrit compendium of the love stories of Ariel spirits known as the Brihad Katha or the library of romances and it is a tale of love lost, love cheated on and love regained - all on the power of a determined wife’s vomit.

No more clues - the rest you shall hear!

Follow me on Instagram @seemaanandstorytelling

Music by Merlin D’Souza @musicbymerlin

Supported by ECDP @essexcdp

Supported by Active Essex @active_essex

Artwork by @rsdcreative

They called him the Serpent because of the number of jails he had broken out of - eight different jails across different countries. They called him the Bikini Killer because the number of his victims found floating in swimming pools, brutally murdered, wearing nothing but a bikini. He was Charles Sobhraj, Killer, gangster, smuggler, jewel thief, criminal, a wanted man across continents.

But he was also the smoothest operator, suave, charming, utterly irresistible, with women falling all over him - even though most of the women connected with him generally came to a gruesome and bloody end. And yet the line of women just never stopped! Even while he was locked up in prison there are reports of how women would line up for conjugal visits, ready to put up with the filthy conditions of jail, just to be able to say that they had slept with Charles Sobhraj.

This is my favourite story from the bizarre life of Charles Sobhraj, his unbelievable Bollywood style escape from Tihar Jail in Delhi. A jail that was being managed at the time by Policewoman Kiran Bedi.

Follow me on Instagram @seemaanandstorytelling

Script by Yasser Usman @yasser.usman

Music by Merlin D’Souza @musicbymerlin

Supported by ECDP @essexcdp

Supported by Active Essex @active_essex

Artwork by @rsdcreative