Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Zaffar Kunial's father comes from Kashmir but his response to the bag of winds story in The Odyssey blows him north to Orkney and back into a different family history.

In The Odyssey Aeolus, the god of winds, loves listening to Odysseus tell stories. He rewards him with a bag containing all the winds except the one that will blow him safely home to Ithaca. But his crew think the bag is full of treasure that Odysseus is concealing from them. When they are almost home they open it, the winds escape, and blow the ship back to Aeolus's island.

Zaffar Kunial's father comes from Kashmir, but in his poetic response to Homer he explores the more mysterious story of his mother's family. Kunial finds a place name on the map of Orkney that is the same as his grandmother's and unravels the odyssey of an ancestor who was blown about the world, from Egypt to Orkney in the Napoleonic Wars. And, like Odysseus, he was a soldier and storyteller. His family also wandered, crossing the sea to an island. The place they were trying to get to, then were ripped from, was home.

Producer: Julian May.

15 minutes

Last on

Wed 26 Apr 2017 00:30

Credits

Role Contributor
Writer Zaffar Kunial
Producer Julian May

Broadcasts

  • Tue 25 Apr 2017 09:45
  • Wed 26 Apr 2017 00:30