Calamus

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.                   ...