A Cooked up Story

Hello Folks!!! "Christmas cookies and happy hearts, this is how the holiday starts!" Tucking all those cookies into your tummy, soon you will fit into Santa's costume. Ho Ho Ho! Cookies, cookies, the baker's pride!!! Have you heard of  the 'Baker's Dozen'? There are many stories behind this legend, so I will narrate to you the one passed down to me. Well then, sit back and enjoy reading. Long ago, in a Dutch colonial town, the present Albany in New York, there lived an honest baker, well known for his Saint Nicholas Cookies. His shop used to be busy throughout the year and even more busy on days before December 6, St. Nicholas Day, when people flocked to his shop to buy those perfect cookies. Every morning, before he would start to bake, he would check his weights and balances and give exactly what his customers paid for. Never more, never less. However, one morning, there came an old woman in a yellow dress, who asked him for a dozen of his famous cookies...

 Hello Folks!!! Over 2500 years ago, an important tree had one of its branches removed on the order of Emperor Ashoka the Great. This tree is far from ordinary because its story starts when Lord Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment under its majestic branches. The tree became to be known as the Bodhi tree. Ashoka the Great planted it in a solid gold vase. He carried the branch over the mountains and down the Ganges, to the Bay of Bengal, from where his daughter, Sanghamitta would sail for Sri Lanka and present it to the King. This story of the fig tree is from the epic poem 'The Mahavamsa'. A fig tree, with unbroken devotion towards it, stretching thousands of years even before the Great Emperor. How wonderful is that ! Figs are found to hold prominent roles in many sacred books as well. Adam and Eve used the leaves of the fig tree to sew garments for themselves. The early Greeks so highly prized figs that it was considered an honor to bestow upon the winner of various...

  “When I used to read fairy tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one!” -Alice Hello Folks!!! Ever wondered how it would be to sit at a table under a tree, merrily sipping morning tea with friends, and go on in endless chatter just like the mad hatter and little Alice in Wonderland! I have felt like Alice at the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party whenever my little friends and I would meet at the school grounds for break. The break hour was the most awaited time of the day, when we nursery students could eat a second breakfast with our friends. The cold weather, the mist kissed trees and benches, and our school uniform with hats and mittens always made us imagine we were at the ‘Tea Party’. Our break time was an hour long and that was when my friends and I, after munching our goodies, would roam around the school, balancing on the edge of time to discover new things before our next lesson began. Just like any other of our mischievous ...