Do you know

 Why chefs wear tall hats?

The chef’s tall hat also called toque, has its origin in mediaeval Europe (period in history between about 1100 and 1500AD), when in some countries, invading barbarians targeted intellectuals and skilled workers like chefs, causing them to seek shelter in churches.

Chefs and others moved around in the guise of priests, wearing tall hats, similar to those worn by clergy.

According to another legend, the hat was modeled after kings’ crowns, to give chefs a sense of importance, lest they spoil the food or even poison it.

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Music

Music speaks what cannot be expressed by words.

People are enamoured with music.

Music touches our souls in a profound way that words alone cannot.

It stirs our imagination, energises our bodies and transforms our mood.

Music can cheer us and or overwhelm us with emotions.

It can make us feel blue or make us feel over the moon.

It can pump us up or calm us down.

Music is something we all get touched by.

It works like a healing therapy.

It moves people and connects them, which no other medium can do.

It pulls heart strings.

It acts as medicine.

Music gives people a new chance to express themselves.

As rightly said, “Music can heal the wounds that medicine cannot touch.”

It heals the heart and is a stress buster in our everyday life.

After a tiring day, music is a form of relaxation and has a calming effect on the body. 

It washes away the dust of everyday life from the soul.

It’s a world of melody.

Listening to music can bring back old memories.

It can sometimes even make a huge difference in the lives of people with brain injuries and can activate cells of the brain, resulting in improvement.

When something seems unbalanced and out of rhythm, a song is enough to tune things up in a moment.

That’s the power of music as therapy.

Many studies have shown that music therapy can regularise the heartbeat.

It is the best remedy for ill people and for everyone at times when we feel low.

Being skilled in any aspect of music is a real gift from God.

I feel heartfelt gratitude towards all the great musicians who create wonderful, melodious music for all of us.

Musicians are the loud voice for so many quiet hearts. 

Music helps us to deal with low times as well as celebrate good times.

Music is a core component of our lives and is highly effective in relieving any kind of mental or physical problem.

Without music, life would be dull and blank.

Music has added colour to our lives.

THE ASS AND THE GRASSHOPPERS

 The Ass And The Grasshoppers

 An ass heard some grasshoppers chirping merrily.

“Ah! Grasshoppers have a very sweet voice!” thought the ass.

 “I wish I had a voice like theirs!”

The ass watched the grasshoppers in admiration and wondered how they had such a sweet voice.

“Perhaps it’s the food they eat!” thought the ass and so he asked the insects what food they ate.

The grasshoppers told the ass that they only ate dew. “Dew? That’s strange!” said the ass.

“Anyway, I shall eat only dew from now on.

”A bird sitting on a tree heard the ass and warned him that he would not be able to survive only on dew.

The ass wouldn’t listen and it was only after a couple of days when he didn’t have the energy to even stand up that he realized his folly.

Moral of the story: What is food for one may be unsuitable for another.

Meet the scientist

 I am Galileo

Hey, Kids! I am Galileo, a scientist, mathematician, and astronomer.

 I was born on 15th February, 1564 in Pisa, Italy, the same place where the leaning tower of Pisa is standing.

My father was a famous music teacher and musician.

I grew up with my brothers during the Italian Renaissance.

 We moved to the city of Florence when I was ten years old.

It was in Florence that I began my education at the Camaldolese monastery.

Even I was a musician and an excellent student.

At first, I wanted to become a doctor rand hence went to the University of Pisa to study medicine.

 Later, I became interested in physics and mathematics.

One of my first scientific observations was on a lamp hanging from the ceiling of the cathedral.

I noticed that despite how far the lamp swung it always took the same amount of time to swing back and forth.

My fellow professors did not agree with this.    

Soon I left the university and got a job as a teacher.

I also began to experiment with pendulums, levers, balls, and other objects and tried to describe how they moved using mathematic equations.

Do you know what other scientific achievements I have done when I was alive?

No? Then let me tell you.

Pisa Tower Experiment – During my time people thought that if you dropped two items of different weights, but the same size and shape, the heavier item would hit the ground first.

I disproved them by going to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa and dropping two balls of the same size, but different weights.

They landed at the same time.

These experiments made some people angry because they didn't want the traditional views to be questioned.

So, I moved from Pisa to the University of Padua, where I was permitted to freely experiment and discuss new ideas.

Copernicus was an astronomer who lived in the early 1500s.

He claimed that the Sun was the centre of the universe.

But most people believed that the Earth was the centre.

So, I began to study Copernicus' work and felt that he was correct.

But people did not want to believe that.

Telescope – Later, I heard of an invention from Holland called the telescope that could make faraway items appear much closer.

So, I decided to build my own better telescope and began to use it to view the planets.

Soon my version of the telescope was used throughout Europe.

 

I made several excellent discoveries using my telescopes like the four large moons around Jupiter and the phases of the planet Venus.

I also discovered sunspots and learned that the Moon was not smooth but was covered with craters.

All my discoveries made the powerful Catholic Church angry and they sentenced me to life in prison, but later allowed him to live at my home under house arrest.

Soon, my health deteriorated, I became blind, and then I died on January 8, 1642.

LOSING FEAR

 Losing fear

 A fox was hunting for food one day when he heard a lion’s roar.

Frightened, he hid behind a bush and watched the king of the forest walk away.

Only when he was completely out of sight did the fox heave a sigh of relief.

The fox saw the lion the next day when he set out to hunt.

Once again he stopped and watched the lion as he disappeared behind a dune.

 

He saw him again the following day.

This time the lion was snoozing in the shade of a tree.

Gathering courage, the fox walked past the sleeping lion, treading softly so as not to wake him up.

The fox was surprised that it had been quite easy to walk past the lion.

“I really can’t understand why I was so terrified of him!” thought the fox as he went about his way.

Moral of the story: Familiarity breeds contempt.

Aesop's fable

 Who’ll bell the cat?

 The rats were fed up of a cat, which bullied them.

They decided to tie a chain of bells round her neck to warn them of her approach.

“But who will tie it round her neck?” they asked each other in despair.

None wanted to and finally one tiny rat volunteered.

For the next few days, the little rat kept a close watch on the cat and one day, when he saw her purring to herself in front of a mirror, he went up to her and said, “How beautiful you look! The only thing you lack is a necklace. I can’t imagine how stunning you’d look if you wear one!”

“Oh, but I don’t have one!” said the cat looking disappointed. Immediately the rat took out the chain of bells he had with him and tied it round her neck.

All the rats rejoiced.

They did not have to worry about the cat bullying them anymore.

Moral of the story: Nothing is impossible.

Festival

 Tulsi Vivah

Tulsi or the basil plant is considered highly sacred in Hinduism and is one of the most worshipped plants.

It holds a great significance not only in rituals but also holds medicinal values.

Tulsi Vivah or the marriage of Tulsi with Bhagwan Vishnu or His Bhagwan Krishna Avatar is celebrated on the Prabodhini Ekadashi, the eleventh day of Shukla Paksha or the twelfth day in the Hindu month of Kartik.

The day signifies the end of the monsoon month and the beginning of the Hindu wedding season.

Legend behind Tulsi Vivah:

A pious girl named Vrinda born in the Asura clan to Kalanemi who was a great devotee of Bhagwan Vishnu.

Her husband Jalandhar, the King of asuras, became invincible by defeating the Devas, due to the penance of his pious wife Vrinda.

Bhagwan Vishnu then took the form of Jalandhar and went in front of Vrinda who invited him to sit beside her.

When Vrinda touched Jalandhar’s feet she recognised that it was not Jalandhar. Bhagwan Vishnu then took His real form which angered Vrinda as she did not expect Bhagwan Vishnu to cheat her this way and break her chastity.

Vrinda angrily cursed Bhagwan Vishnu to turn into a stone.

But when the Devas requested Vrinda to not turn Bhagwan Vishnu into a stone, she reduced her curse.

She said that Bhagwan Vishnu would return to earth as "Shaligrm", a form of Bhagwan Vishnu.

She ended her life as her purity was maligned which resulted in the killing of the Asura Jalandhar.

Bhagwan Vishnu was pleased with her devotion.

 He blessed Vrinda that His worship will be considered to complete only when Vrinda is a part of it and even after herdeath she will remain on earth in the form of a Tulsi Plant and  will function as life giving plant. He also declared that whenever somebody will offer Him a Tulsi leaf with full devotion He will bless them.

As per her prayers, she was married to Bhagwan Vishnu in this form. Since then, worship of tulsi, offering of tulsi for Bhagwan Vishnu and Tulsi Vivah came to be practiced by the devotees.

 Celebration:

Tulsi Vivah is celebrated on the Shukla Paksha Ekadashi in the Kartik month.

The rituals performed on the day are the same as that of a Hindu wedding.

The ceremony is performed either at home or at temples.

A mandap is installed around the courtyard where the Tulsi plant is planted.

The Tulsi Vrindavan is decked up as a bride with red saree, jewellery, and flowers. Some people even attach a paper face to the Tulsi plant.

The groom is a brass idol or a picture of Bhagwan Vishnu or Bhagwan Krishna.

The Vigraha or the picture of Bhagwan is draped in a dhoti and decorated with flowers. During the ceremony, Bhagwan Vishnu and Tulsi, are tied together with a cotton thread also called as Mala.

In Maharashtra and Goa, Mangala Ashtak (mantras sung during the marriage ceremony) is recited by the priests by holding a white cloth between the bride and the groom. Akshada, rice coloured with vermilion, haldi, and kumkum, are showered on the couple and later the white cloth is removed signifying the approval to the wedding.

Sugarcane, tamarind, fruits, and puffed rice are offered as Naivedya to Tulsi and later distributed as Prasad.

Tulsi is offered saree, vermilion, and Mangalsutra while Bhagwan Vishnu is offered men’s clothing, sacred thread and sandalwood.

In Goa Tulsi Vivah is called Vhadli Diwali (Big Diwali)

Married women (Suhasinis) of the house burn Jodvi (365 X 2 wicks of cotton) and pray for good health and long life of their husbands.

Cuisine is vegetarian as same as that is prepared for a wedding. 

Celebration:

Tulsi Vivah is celebrated on the Shukla Paksha Ekadashi in the Kartik month.

The rituals performed on the day are the same as that of a Hindu wedding.

The ceremony is performed either at home or at temples.

A mandap is installed around the courtyard where the Tulsi plant is planted.

The Tulsi Vrindavan is decked up as a bride with red saree, jewellery, and flowers. Some people even attach a paper face to the Tulsi plant.

The groom is a brass idol or a picture of Bhagwan Vishnu or Bhagwan Krishna.

The Vigraha or the picture of Bhagwan is draped in a dhoti and decorated with flowers. During the ceremony, Bhagwan Vishnu and Tulsi, are tied together with a cotton thread also called as Mala.

In Maharashtra and Goa, Mangala Ashtak (mantras sung during the marriage ceremony) is recited by the priests by holding a white cloth between the bride and the groom. Akshada, rice coloured with vermilion, haldi, and kumkum, are showered on the couple and later the white cloth is removed signifying the approval to the wedding.

Sugarcane, tamarind, fruits, and puffed rice are offered as Naivedya to Tulsi and later distributed as Prasad.

Tulsi is offered saree, vermilion, and Mangalsutra while Bhagwan Vishnu is offered men’s clothing, sacred thread and sandalwood.

In Goa Tulsi Vivah is called Vhadli Diwali (Big Diwali)

Married women (Suhasinis) of the house burn Jodvi (365 X 2 wicks of cotton) and pray for good health and long life of their husbands.

Cuisine is vegetarian as same as that is prepared for a wedding.