My Father, Father's Day and much more

Life has moved on by a number of decades(who cares how many???) since I was a small child. Today in globalised India, we teach our kids about many many special days, beyond the Independence day, Republic day or Gandhi Jayanti. There's Environment Day, Earth Day, Water Day, etc etc etc....on one hand and the Valentine Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Friendship Day and many more such days which teach the nuclear family generation learn/ realise value of human relationships, even if it is for one particular day.

Today they learn, the importance of saying aloud, 'I love you Mom for all you did/ are doing for me' or saying 'Thank you Dad, for being there when I need/needed you the most'.

Our parents never thought it important to teach us to say that formal ' I love you' or the ' Thank you', which was never part of our culture, tradition earlier. How will they in fact, they were just the first generation of nuclear family parents raising kids independently.

While I grew up in a Bengalee family of two daughters,never ever was I in a disadvantaged position for my gender. So confident were we of our Dad's support in the outside world, that we roamed fearlessly in school. In fact the brief to us daughters was, if you are punished for fighting, I will defend you, but if you come back beaten up, you can expect the worst.

In all my moments of failures, I had my father by my side cheering me to stand up once more and take charge of my life. He taught me to dream, sometimes even beyond my abilities, but all that mattered was to dream, be ambitious, running for my goals.

Once like all working Moms with guilt pangs and back on the wall, I took a sabbatical, not even willing to return to work. Believe me, I was happy, cooking, watching tv, walking through super markets to avoid having lunch, picking up son from school, cooking exotic healthy dishes to spike up the dinner table. Only time I used to feel upset was while filling up any form and writing , occupation as Housewife/ Not working. The three men in my life, my father, my hubby and my little son pestered me bad to look for a job urgently, and get out of the house.

I am still running, today, running hard, but even today, I speak to my Baba when I stumble, fall down, or I am victorious. He is the happiest person to celebrate my success, my designation.

I salute my father, for everything he did to put me where I am today, to instill the courage in me to attempt anything and to instill the faith that I can do it and will be able to do it. I will not dare thank him for all these, as thanking him will only but belittle him and put a value for all he did to see his daughters succeed. What I am today is a tribute to my father, so Baba its all because of you.