“Bro, I need some money. Give me 2000 bucks real quick.”. Announced
Kushal (Name changed deliberately, you will know why in a while). “Bro we got
our first salary about a week back and you are out of money already?”, I found
it hard to believe. I and Kushal were from the same college and joined the same
company along with 56 other people from our college. It was a closely knit
group of our college that many people envied at our training campus. Kushal was
not a miser but definitely not a profligate when it came to money.
“Bro, this Wednesday is Teddy Day. You remember I told you about this
cute girl in the other training batch. I must gift a teddy to her. A big one. A
bro in need is a bro indeed. I’ll return your money as soon as I get the next
salary. Pakka. I swear”.
“Cut the crap and here’s your money”, the bro code demanded me to help
Kushal and so did I. Cut to four years later, 2014, Kushal married Kanika(name
changed again 😉). I visited their house and we laughed
for hours talking of our training days during our first job. The teddy which
punched holes in Kushal’s pocket 4 years back, stood tall at 6 feet in their
living room.
 |
| A teddy bear reading a book |
Teddy bear, the cute stuffed toy that often signifies love has an
interesting story of its own. The toy was developed simultaneously by two
people in two different countries. It is named after the 26th president
of the U.S., Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt. The creator of the teddy
bear, Morris Michtom, was inspired by a political cartoon published
in the Washington Post in November 1902. The cartoon was in context of a
hunting incident involving the president. The president was invited by the
Mississippi governor for hunting. While Roosevelt struggled to kill a bear on
his own, his attendants successfully caught a bear and tied it to a tree for
Roosevelt to kill it. Roosevelt considered killing of the bear himself was not
the best example of sportsman spirit and refused to kill it himself.
Cartoonist Clifford Berryman depicted this in the
cartoon showing a disgusted Roosevelt and a full grown black bear. However, in
the later versions of the cartoons, a smaller and cuter bear was shown. Morris
Michtom, inspired by these cartoons, created a soft teddy bear, sought the
permission from Roosevelt to use his name “Teddy”, and started selling the toy.
At around same time, Richard Steiff in Germany also
created a similar stuffed bear. Interestingly enough, both Michtom and Steiff
were creating the same thing at the same time in two different countries,
unaware of each other’s work.
 |
A teddy bear is considered as sign of love, congratulations or sympathy
Nerd Note 1: Michtom founded the Ideal Novelty and Toy company that
eventually went on to become the largest toy company in the US. Haven’t you
heard that name somewhere? Yes, you have. It is the same company that was
licensed to make the Rubik’s Cube. Read more about Rubik’s cube here.
Nerd Note 2: Winnie the Pooh, a popular cartoon by Walt
Disney was created by A. A. Milne inspired by his son Christopher
Robin’s teddy bear. Christopher Robin Milne himself is the basis of
character of Christopher Robin in his father’s works.
Share the story of the teddy with your friends and let us know in
comments if you liked it. If you know me from my college days or from my first
job, take a guess for real names of Kushal and Kanika.
And as always,
Thanks for reading. Keep smiling.
Ayush!!!
Intresting
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