With trees being chopped down by the hundreds, to make room for new buildings, there were very few forested areas left in the city. Little Red Riding Hood always thought she was really lucky to live right at the edge of the city, adjoining a forest. Most people took the long road around the forest, for fear of the wolf, who was said to live there. But Little Red Riding Hood just thought he was one of those silly stories that grown-ups sometimes make up to scare you. And, she was no scaredy-cat, so every Sunday she would take the shortcut through the woods, to visit her grandmother who lived at the other end of the city. 

Red Riding’s mother warned her, “Don’t you go rambling about aimlessly now, Red Riding Hood! Go directly to your Grandma’s. And go by the main road, not the short-cut through the woods. Mrs Sharma saw the wolf at the edge of the forest the other day, and he looked like he’d just had his fill of chicken wings.”

Despite her mother’s warnings not to dawdle, Red Riding Hood would always stop to pick a few flowers, and chase the butterflies. She was quite unaware that the wolf had been keeping an eye on her for many months. And one Sunday, when she sensed that someone was following her, she just brushed it off as her imagination, though she did hurry along a little faster, and started to sing to shake off her frightful thoughts.  

If you’d been out in the silence of the woods that day, you’d have heard Red Riding Hood’s slightly off-key singing voice for miles around.  

“Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? The Big Bad Wolf! The Big Bad Wolf!Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? The Big Bad Wolf! The Big Bad Wolf!” she sang gaily, only stopping to tell the trees, “Not me!That’s for sure!” By the time she got to her grandma’s cottage, and knocked sharply on the door, she’d forgotten her fear of being followed.  

 A hoarse voice croaked back from within, “Who is it?”

 “It’s me, Grandma! Red Riding Hood.”

  “Come in child. The door’s open”.

 “Good afternoon Grandma! How odd your voice sounds! Are you keeping well?”

 “I’m doing well girl. It’s just that this pollution is affecting my throat (cough..cough). ‘Vicks ki goli loh! Kich! Kich! Dur Karo!’ says the ad (cough cough). But it doesn’t work anymore. I think the cold virus has become immune to Vicks!”

“What big eyes you have grandma! Have you been sleeping well?”

 “It’s my new Essilor lenses! All the better to see you with my dear”.

 “What wrinkled skin you have grandma! Have you been forgetting to apply your moisturizer?”

 “No dear! I ran out of Olay Total Effects and Pond’s Age Miracle seems to be taking its own sweet time to work miracles.”

 “What long nails you have grandma!”

 “Sigh! Yes! I know. L’Oreal was supposed to send over a manicurist especially for senior citizens, but she never arrived. People these days, I tell you! No one seems to think it’s important to keep their word.”  

 “How much weight you’ve put on grandma!”

 “Aah! That would be the Protinex, I’ve been adding to my milk every night dearie.”

 “And your hair! You said all the grey strands in it were my fault! But it’s jet black now grandma!”

 “Didn’t I tell you I started using Garnier Hair Colour dearie? Come closer and look. Not a single strand of grey.”

 Red Riding Hood steps closer to look, “What white teeth you have grandma!”

 “That’s the magic of Orbit white dearie! Now why don’t you unload that basket of yours, and tell me what we’re having for Sunday lunch?”

 “Maggie Chicken Noodles grandma!”

 “Chicken! But I’m vegetarian.”

“Vegetarian! You’re not my grandma!”

 Just then the real grandma literally falls out of the cupboard.

“I thought you were here to eat me when I saw you approaching on my Panasonic CCTV. Vegetarian! Whoever thought the Big Bad Wolf would be vegetarian. What a hoax,” grumbles the Red Riding Hood’s real grandmother.

 The wolf shrugs sheepishly as he defends his taste, “With all the steroids they’re feeding chickens nowadays, who’d want to eat them.”

 “I think this is just a flavouring though, not the real chicken. Would you like to join us for lunch?” Red Riding Hood asks the wolf.

 And so Grandma, Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, sat down to share some yummy two-minute Maggi noodles. They even clicked a photo, which Red Riding Hood plans to send in to the Mera Wala Maggi Contest. So if you see them on the cover of the next packet of Maggi Chicken Masala noodles that you buy, you’ll know exactly how they got there.