Kenneth Vidia Parmasad (1946 – 17 April 2006) was an Indo-Trinidadian writer who specialized in writing children's books. Parmasad was also a noted lecturer at the University of the West Indies in St. Augustine.
Parmasad was responsible for writing and collecting classic Indian folk stories for the Caribbean that had been passed down orally by the Indian indentured servants who were brought to the region in 1838. Parmasad's most notable work, Salt and Roti: Indian Folk Tales of the Caribbean (1984), was the first collection of Indian folk tales in the Caribbean.
Education
Parmasad attended the University of the West Indies in St. Augustine as an undergraduate where he earned a B.A. in Caribbean studies. He would later go on to lecture at his Alma Mater for many years on the same subject.
Salt and Roti (1984)
Perhaps his most notable work, Salt and Roti is a collection of Parmasad's Indian folk tales of the Caribbean. The collection features sixteen different stories which include the titular "Salt and Roti" as well as "Sakchulee and the Rich Gentleman" and "Three Wise Fools".
List of folk tales
The Cat and the Rat
The Donkey that Tried to Bark
Three Wise Fools
The Golden Hair
Saved by Common Sense
The Foolish King
The Voice of the Flute
The Poisoned Roti
The Cunning Fox
Myna and Tota
Kingdom of the Blind
King Frog and the Snake
Rites of the Dead
The Pig Saves the King's Life
Sakchulee and the Rich Gentleman
Salt and Roti
Salt and Roti folk tale synopsis
A poor woman has nothing to feed her son except salt and roti, yet the boy eats it everyday excitedly. Everyday, on the boys way to work he pulls on the tail of one of the King's elephants to test his strength. The kings men notice the elephant is ill and discovering that the boy is pulling on the tail, they tell the king. The king desires what makes this boy so strong so they go to his mother and she tells them: "Salt and Roti". The king instructs the woman not to give the boy salt with his roti anymore, to which she acquiesces. The boy begins to lose his strength and eventually dies, much to the kings delight as he believes he has discovered the key to unlimited strength. The tale ends with the king proclaiming to all his people that they must now only eat salt and roti. The townspeople, shocked by this decree, leave as they all whisper "The King is mad. The King is mad."
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