The story of the Chirstmas Tree:Synopsis

Today, Christmas is as much of a secular festival as a religious one. The exact date of Christ’s birth is unknown, but the Church fixed the celebration on 25 December. This is preceded by the Advent season, which is a sombre but hopeful time in which Christians prepare themselves for Christmas, when they believe God came into the world to save mankind from the Evil. The Christmas tree forms almost an indispensable part of the Christmas celebrations. The decorated Christmas tree, common in German countries for centuries, was introduced to Britain by Prince Albert, the consort of Queen Victoria.
According to the Holy Bible, the Christmas tree is associated with the birth of Jesus Christ. It is generally believed that on the night of His birth, all living creatures came to Bethlehem to greet him with gifts. The olive tree came along with its fruit and the palm with its date but the fir had nothing to gift the newborn king. So an angel taking pity on the fir tree commanded a cluster of stars to shine on its beautiful boughs. Baby Jesus smiled on seeing the lighted tree, and blessed it. The tree is always lighted with many decorations on it, to please little children during Christmas. It is also said that the triangular shape of the tree symbolises the Trinity and points upwards towards the God. While the light, gift and decorations on the Christmas tree mean heaven, love and charity respectively, the light symbolise the light that Jesus Christ cast upon the lives of the people. There lies the legend behind the Christmas tree.
The celebration is incomplete without a Christmas tree. This tree is regarded as one of the most dominant symbols of Christmas celebrations all over the world. It is normally a conifer that is decorated with lights and colourful ornaments during the auspicious Christmas days. The Christmas tree originated in Germany in the 16th Century.
The custom of carol-singing was revived mainly in the 19th century. It was also the time when Christmas crackers were invented. The Trees have been a symbol of good luck ever since.
Traditionally, Christmas trees were not brought in and decorated until Christmas Eve and removed only on the day after the twelfth night. To have a tree decorated before the Eve was considered as a bad omen.
The best selling trees during Christmas celebrations are those named Scotch pine, Douglas fir, Noble fir, Fraser fir, Virginia pine, Balsam fir and White pine. Other types of trees, such as cherry and hawthorns are also used as Christmas trees. These trees are widely available in the market and are in great demand all the world over. Christmas trees take an average ten years to mature.

Franklin Pierce was the first US President to introduce the Christmas tree to the White House. The first national Christmas tree was lit in 1923, on the White House lawn by President Calvin Coolidge.

It is also a time for Christmas carols. The popular carol merged with the folk song and with the broadside songs sold on city streets. Composed carols gained variety in form in the 17th century, while their texts began to centre on Christmas. The familiarity of a large number of carols among the general public is probably unmatched by any other musical form.
It is a time of great commercial activity and family reunions. The familiar image of Santa Claus moving in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, distributing toys and gifts to every child across the globe is known worldwide. Very little is known of Jesus historically, but information can be gleaned from the Gospels of the New Testament of the Bible, and the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus. Many still believe that Jesus was the revealer not only of human life in its perfection but of divine reality itself.
The ultimate principle of the universe, called by many different names in various religions, was called “Father” in the sayings of Jesus, and Christians therefore call Jesus himself “Son of God”.
Love is, in the New Testament and in subsequent Christian doctrine, the most decisive among the attributes of God. Christianity teaches that God is almighty in dominion over all that is in Heaven and on Earth, righteous in judgment over good and evil, beyond time and space and change; but above all they teach that “God is love”.
The creation of the world out of nothing and the creation of the human race were expressions of that love, and so was the coming of Christ. Thus Christmas is a celebration of that “love” throughout the world. It brings with itself a breeze of love and faith with it.
Being one of the most awaited festivals across the world, Christmas is all about carols, Santa Claus, goodwill, and love

Wicked - The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Wicked - The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West:

by :Gregory Maguire

If you’ve never read Frank Baum’s children’s classic The Wizard of Oz or seen the movie starring a very young Judy Garland, you should not be reading this book (or my review). Because you really should read the book or watch the movie one day and I wouldn’t want to spoil your enjoyment of either.
But if you know the story already, I cannot recommend this companion piece too strongly. In The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West was seen merely as a source of evil, a peripheral character who caused the troubles that Dorothy and her party had to overcome in order to free the land of Oz. Gregory Maguire chose to question the very idea of wickedness itself. Who or what is wicked? And how and why? Do the wicked also not have a strong rationale behind their behavior? The result is a wonderful, exciting and challenging book.
Wicked starts with the circumstances surrounding the birth of Elphaba, the green girl who would one day be known as “The Wicked Witch of the West”. It describes the unusual baby she was, the repressive atmosphere in which she grew up, her father’s religious fervor and her mother’s casual treatment of the baby girl she had not wanted. Elphaba enters University as young girl with strong convictions, a deeply embedded sense of right and wrong and a fellow feeling for the underdog. The political turmoil of Oz and the Wizard’s callousness towards the rural districts (where she grew up) and especially the Animals, sees her joining the underground revolutionaries.
The death of her lover leads her to her lover’s home in the mountains, in an attempt to find forgiveness from his wife. The wife herself frustrates this desire and insists on friendship instead and she stays on with the boy who may or may not be her son. Politics enters her life once more however and takes away this home and she is left behind at the castle with her attempts on biological engineering (trying to stitch wings on monkeys in an attempt to teach them to fly) and her reputation amongst the rural hillside folk as a sinister witch.
Her sister Nessa — the Wicked Witch of the East — after having taken over their part of Oz by a political coup, is killed one day by a house falling on her head. Elphaba flies down in haste to hear about a mysterious tornado and a girl called Dorothy, and that this girl caused her sister’s death, albeit indirectly. An old friend from University, Glinda the Good Witch has sent Dorothy to the Wizard, hoping that he will resolve the political crisis Nessa’s death has led to. Knowing the Wizard as she does, Elphaba then sets out looking for Dorothy, trying to stop her from taking Nessa’s powerful shoes to the Wizard.
From here on the novel shows the other side of Baum’s narration. Anything more than this would maybe spoil the novel for you, so I’ll keep quiet. But if you do read the book, try drawing the connections between the Baum and the Maguire versions. And try not to let Maguire brainwash you into thinking that it was Dorothy who was the (unwitting) cause of evil instead! Maguire is a powerful storyteller and it challenges the reader to find a ‘truth’ somewhere in between the two novels.

Peg at the bar: book review

Pratim is a photographer — rather a recent graduate struggling to secure some ground in the field of photography. It is a pretty tough job in a city like Calcutta, where Pratim has settled only a few months back. He lives in an apartment — on the third floor of a house named “Kamala Villa” — not a very big one but having a nice window which provides a view of the citylights as well as the open sky. In the City of Joy where it’s truly difficult to find real friends, Pratim doesn’t have a friend too! In his solitude the window is his only companion and friend! Rather strangely, Pratim seems to be able to communicate with the window. Whenever Pratim is sad the blue of the sky would appear to be deeper through the window. And then all of a sudden a handsome bird would come and sit on the window and sing softly as if trying to change Pratim’s mood. Every morning the window would usher golden sunlight into the whole apartment, scaring away all that is dark, as if saying “Good Morning”. Whenever Pratim sits to hear some music on the radio set, the curtain over the window would flutter in a rhythm as if it were also listening to the music. In short, in a city like Calcutta where society has degraded to a bunch of envious individuals, the window was Pratim’s only pal.
Presently a new occupant came into the apartment adjoining Pratim’s. It was a lady in her mid 30’s and a singer by profession. Pratim first met her when she dropped in into his apartment one evening for a chat. Her name was Rachna. Inspite of her age she was quite pretty and had a grace in the manner she carried herself.
She was alone too, and in their loneliness they started to enjoy each other’s company. Unfortunately in this country where such a relation is sin to the eyes of the society, their relation too met no better fate. The other occupants of “Kamala Villa” started to pass comments behind their backs. However, Pratim turned a deaf ear to all this.
One afternoon Pratim sat on his bed pondering over his relation with Rachna. Was he falling in love with her? Should they get married? Should they care about what society says? All these questions crowded his mind. After all Rachna was ten years older than him!
“The sunlight never hits my eyes so hard when I sit here, why is it then happening today?” Pratim asked himself.
It was the first time Pratim was unable to interpret what the window was trying to convey. A harsh sunlight coming through the window was interrupting his thoughts! Disturbed with all these confusions, Pratim went out of his apartment after a while.
The next day he approached Rachna with a proposal of marriage. She listened to whatever Pratim had to say and then said, “I am sorry to say but I cannot accept your proposal! I have forgotten to tell you that I have got a job offer at the AIR FM, Delhi. I am leaving Calcutta in two days. I don’t know if I have fallen in love with you too but I must tell you that I’ll never forget you Pratim.” Her voice cracking in the last line she quickly went away. Rachna left for Delhi after two days.
In India it is very difficult for a woman to go against the odds of the society and simultaneously succeed in an ambitious career. Though with a heavy heart, Rachna decided to take the easier path.
Pratim was again alone in his apartment. He sat on his couch staring at the window — his only pal — thinking why it never indicated anything, oblivious of the fact that the window did warn him. The hard sunlight that once disturbed his thoughts were an indication of the fact that the truth is always bitter and stranger than fiction, they were the answers to the questions that then crowded his mind — the window did keep its friendship!
Today, when Pratim’s world is in doldrums, he is again unable to interpret what the window — his only pal — was trying to convey. Today it is not reflecting his sorrow instead everything seems strikingly normal as Pratim sat looking at it.
It is depicting a view of the busy streetsbelow “Kamala Villa”. People entering and leaving the business houses. Somewhere an ambulance was hurrying towards a nearby hospital.
A hawker sitting on the footpath was screaming “Handkerchiefs! Cheap handkerchiefs for sale! Ten rupees only for a pair! Sale…. Sale