Things That Bang

The first time my daughter laid eyes on a white teddy bear in a mall she let out a delighted squeal. She hugged the stuffed animal and walked around with it as if it was her baby. She slept with her teddy, she ate alongside her teddy and the only place she wasn't allowed to take her teddy was to the bathroom.

Like Calvin and Hobbes, Parita and her teddy were inseparable. She even tried to feed her teddy milk and khaana. Of course, one fine day, Teddy was given up for Barney and then Barney was given up for a doll. Yet she is still quite possessive about her teddy. He has to be within her playing periphery.

I was about five when a mean laborer stuffed my stuffed dog up the kitchen's chimney,  or that was what my mother told me. I still remember the dog's long floppy ears, brown coat and red nose. I was upset for weeks together and even now when i visit home, the chimney is a reminder of the tears I shed as a tot.

The entire ruckus over Teddy Mo' was much ado about nothing. The kids meant no harm, the teacher meant no offense.

The class voted the name Mohammed for their Teddy not in jest but probably in pure innocent love. It is a sign of veneration for the Prophet, the only special person who their special toy could be named after was their Prophet.

Adults would obviously go down the slippery slope - today its a stuffed toy tomorrow an animal could be named after the Prophet etc. But children don't think that way and this lady for all her ignorance didn't think that way. She probably knew that kids love their toys with all their little hearts.

Mrs Gibbons is back in Britain and has only good words to put in for Sudan and its people.

"The Sudanese people I found to be extremely kind and generous and until this happened I only had a good experience."

"I wouldn't like to put anyone off going to Sudan.

"I would like to thank Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi and I would like to thank all the people who have worked so hard to secure my release and make my time more bearable."

The teacher's local MP, Louise Ellman, has welcomed Mrs Gibbons' return but said the jail sentence "should never have happened".

"The original incident was something very innocent and then what should have been seen as a minor error - and certainly a very innocent one - suddenly became blown up into something extremely important and the whole thing has been very, very worrying and quite horrendous."