Calamus

From eating only chicken, eggs and very select types of seafood I have expanded the repertoire of foods that I ventured to try in the recent years, to the following. Duck, Quail, Lamb, Goat, Bacon, various types of Fish, Octopus, Clams, Mussels, Squid, Scallops, Crab, Lobster, Craw-fish, Turkey, Beef(cow, buffalo), Rabbit, Deer, Chicken feet, Brain(mutton, fish), Eye(fish), Roe(fish eggs) from several varieties of fish/seafood including that of squid, Heart(goat), bone marrow(goat), Liver(chicken, goat), Lengue(cow's tongue) - its a popular Mexican delicacy, Sushi, Snail, Emu, Frogs and my latest - Goat Testicles! No kidding! Even as I write it I cant believe myself! Seriously, goat balls! And to answer the imperative question, although I may never have them again, they tasted good. More like a denser, smoother variant of roe(fish eggs) It seems to me that this is quite commendable. I think I can be proud of myself for trying these new and some times even bizarre foods. One need

While sifting through my documents, I realized that I was missing an experience letter from my first employer, lets call them ABC Ltd. I decided to contact them to try to get an experience letter. I knew it wouldn't be easy because it has been nearly a decade since I left the job and the organization has undergone some changes since then. Nevertheless I had to give it a try. I messaged my then boss(Contact 1) at ABC Ltd in Facebook asking him if he can help me. My ex-boss didn't work there anymore but gave me the contact number of one of his friends/peers(Contact 2) who did. When Contact 2 didn't pick up my calls for three to four days, I decided to present my case through an SMS hoping that if I tell him the reason for my call and how I got his contact number, may be he would answer my call. So after sending the SMS, I called again. And sure enough he picked the call this time. I asked Contact 2 if he could give me the contact number of the HR personnel to get an experie

If you are an Indian, chances are that you love Dosa! Its a dish that is a staple of South Indian cuisine. But irrespective of whether one hails from the Southern part or elsewhere in India, I have never heard anyone say that they don't like the Dosa. To a lot of people, Dosa implies breakfast. These ardent Dosa fans have probably eaten only a Dosa breakfast since they can remember and probably will continue to do so till they die! Many, like me break their fast over Dosa two to three times a week while others make it their dinner. Some like it as a snack to be had along with a hot beverage like tea or coffee, to yet others its an anytime food. For the mall trotting crowd, Dosa is junk-food, while its a quick selling favorite fast-food at the thousands of road side eateries. To me Dosa is comfort food. I love to have it in a wide range of variations. The most popular version of the dosa recipe calls for white rice and urad. It could be had plain or with stuffing. Restaurants offe

Devu was to perform for a talent show at her school. From among the options like Music, instrumental, fancy dress, dance etc, she picked dance. That meant more work for me. So when attempts to convince her to choose music over dance failed, I set about my task. There were two weeks to go before event. My action points were to pick a song, get it choreographed, teach Devu, buy costume and find a make-up artist. After the song was chosen, I requested our Bharathanatyam sir, to help us. He agreed and choreographed it in fifteen minutes, after all the song was only 2:20 mins long. But by now we had only a week to go which means I have six days to teach Devu the routine. It was a song that she had performed for on an earlier occasion, but this time half the steps were different. We started rehersals and Devu was practicing three to four times on a daily basis and I was pleased with her progress and performance. We took out time on a week day and bought the costume, got it altered. We also

Summer is on its way out. As the weather cools down, children get ready for a new school year, and monsoons. Beside the fact that I am no fan of diseases and dirty puddles I hate to see summer go for one very deliciously sweet reason - MANGOES! Himayat We went overboard with mangoes this summer. We more than made up for the depravity of the last six years. From super markets to cart vendors, from farmers markets to mango orchards from vegetable shops to even more vegetable shops, why, even online! We bought mangoes from everywhere! If they were available, we would still be getting them, but alas, summer lasts only for three short months. But nevertheless I am grateful to have had my heart's fill. Few fruits have such variety like the mango. They come in a horde of sizes & shapes, smooth & wrinkled, in various hues of green, yellow, orange & red. Long, thin, pointy, round, stout & tiny; the shapes are very many.  But they all have one thing in common - t

Devu started music classes yesterday. She loves to sing and has learnt several rhymes, many songs and a couple of religious songs in the past 5 yrs of her life. Devu is always humming some tune or the other when she is engrossed in play or activity. Ever since we moved to Hyderabad in Nov, we were looking for a good place to enroll her for music and dance lessons. This is the first time that she is getting formally trained for Carnatic vocals. As her mother, I feel that its a very significant event in her life. Music is considered to be God's gift to mankind. It is divine and instills a positive energy to ones soul. Although I love music, I didn't learn it. But as a parent, it makes me feel happy and proud to be able to give my offspring the gift of music. She may not now, but years later she will realize that its probably one of the best gifts ever. I cant wait for the day when my heart will warm up in pride to hear her melodiously sing songs and bhajans with ease. And that, f

Parenthood is a rewarding experience. For 18 years our goal is to care and do the best for our off-springs. It starts with amazement when you first lay eyes on your baby. Soon you find yourself doing things that no baby blogs or books ever mention. I sniff my son's butt several times a day. It must make for a funny picture I am sure - I place him belly-down on my elbow, prop his butt up and sniff away! And if that's not enough I also analyze his poop each time for color, texture & consistency. When my daughter was in an exploratory mission in her second year of life, she regularly dug out her diaper-deposits out of curiosity and revealed them to me. During one such display, when I wasn't paying much attention, I inadvertently placed her fingers to the tip of my tongue and actually tasted it before realizing what I did! Yes, I finally DID IT! I tasted SHIT - literally! In case you are interested to know, it tastes bitter! That's right. Besides that of a parent, kid

The topic was " Do you think that the spirit of Christmas has been commercialized?" Only responses that were within the limit of 100 words shall be accepted. It had been a while since I wrote something with a limit on the number of words. The last time I did that was for my essay in the English Language paper at board exams I guess. So I had to curtail myself and after lot of editing and re-editing I sent them my response.  We were out of station and returned home a week after the publish date. I had almost forgotten about it. I went over to my neighbor's and got the newspaper, just to check and was really excited to see that it got published! Its is 97 words long. Here is the write up and a snapshot. It was published exactly as I had sent it. No modifications were made except for the title "Changing Times" which was their addition.                              "Changing Times"        Earlier stars hanging outside homes signaled the arriv