INTRO

A Mother’s Love
The warmth of her hug
The care in her hands
The encouragement of her words,
The energy of her love
The trueness of her feelings
The admiration of her,
A rose does not bloom without soil
A fruit does not grow without air
A seed does not sprout without soil
A mother’s love is the sunlight,
To the sunflower standing tall in the field.
The nourishment to blossom
And shine every day
Thank you mom
You showered me with your boundless love

- Akshaya Padma Krishnan

Love and affection
Once upon a time there was a little boy who became very ill. He had to spend all day in bed. Because other children weren't allowed to come near him, he suffered greatly, and spent his days feeling sad and blue. There wasn't much he could do except look out of the window. Time passed, and his feeling of despair just grew. Until one day he saw a strange shape in the window. It was a penguin eating a sausage sandwich. The penguin squeezed in through the open window, said "good afternoon" to the boy, turned around, and left again. Of course, the boy was very surprised. He was still trying to work out what had happened, when outside his window he saw a monkey in a nappy, busy blowing up a balloon. At first the boy asked himself what that could possibly be, but after a while, as more and more crazy-looking characters appeared out the window, he burst out laughing and found it hard to stop. Anyone wanting to stop laughing would never be helped by seeing a pig playing a tambourine, an elephant jumping on a trampoline, or a dog wearing a pair of glasses and talking about nothing except politics. The little boy didn't tell anyone about this because who would have believed him? Even so, those strange characters ended up putting joy back in his heart and in his body. Before long, his health had improved so much that he was able to go back to school again. There he got to talk to his friends, and tell them all the strange things he had seen. While he was talking to his best friend he saw something sticking out of his friend's school bag. The boy asked his friend what it was, and he was so insistent that finally his friend had to show him what was in the bag: There, inside, were all the fancy-dress suits and disguises that his best friend had been using to try to cheer the little boy up And from that day on, the little boy always did his best to make sure that no one felt sad and alone.