Kathmandu, May 9 -- Krishna Bahadur Rajkarnikar was in a quandary. It was 1944, the last few years of the Rana oligarchy, and Krishna had developed differences with Indu Shumsher, the grandson of former prime minister Bir Shumsher. With few options left to him, Krishna left for Kolkata.

While there, the story goes, Krishna visited the famous Kali Temple in Kolkata's Kalighat and rescued an 11-year-old girl who was trapped between the huge crowd of worshippers present there. The father of the little girl, eager to thank Krishna, offered him shelter and training for a week. The man was a baker at a legendary tearoom called Firpo's. And the rest is history.

In 1947, Krishna came back to Kathmandu, fully adept in the art of making bread. A ...