MY DAD - MY GUIDE - MY FRIEND

I am studying. For long. I get up and go to the kitchen, maybe have one candy in the refrigerator. I had brought just five yesterday. I open the Fridge. And there is only one candy in that, four are missing! I am seething with fury - who ate it without my knowledge! I go out in the Common Room. And I can 'smell' the culprit. I can see my Dad, nicely sitting on the sofa, reading the paper. I calmly ask him, 'Did you eat my candies?' Initially, he does not reply, behaves he has not heard me. I repeat the question. Then he looks around (but not at me) and says "I just ate a few, not more". Four out of five is few, I came to know today.

So, well! That's my Dad. Sweet tooth. If I were to tell you three cool facts about my Dad, they’d be- 1. Every minute he’s around, he chooses to make as many puns as humanly possible. 2. He has an undying love for three things- my mum, geopolitics, and me. 3. He loves the mountains, like crazy. And one bad fact: 1. He eats my candies!

Not only candies. He also flicks my Pens sometimes! When I don't find my pen, I know where has it gone. But Of course, I just love him like that. He is a very jovial person. He may be one of the most comical people in my life, but he’s also one of the most impactful. He’s the person who’s spent lots of time getting all animations for me to watch when I was little - he always felt that the emotions that one develops seeing animations, is unmatched. There's probably not one Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, Sony, Universal, Illumination animation, that I havent seen. And haven't learnt something from. He’s sat me down and told me all about the nuances of the world, and today, he’s the one of the two people I’d gladly take a bullet for (the other person being my mum). He’s also the one person who actually understood a fraction of what I went through when my lovebird, Bubbles, passed away. He’s been my rock through that rough time in my life, listening to me and making sure I was alright before anything else, even though I can bet his pillow was soaked with as many tears as mine, if not more.

If there’s one hobby dad really focuses on, it’s music. I can’t even begin to name all of the genres of music he’s exposed me to- all the way from lounge to old Hindi songs. It is because of him today that I’m able to appreciate a plethora of different voices, with Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, and Asha Bhosle on one hand to Backstreet Boys, Sir Elton John and Bon Jovi on another. I, in turn, introduced him to Arctic Monkeys, Chase Atlantic, and the like. We enjoy musci together. it's fun to listen to it together and appreciate the voice of the singer - be it Mohd Rafi ji singing his part in "Chal Kahin Door Nikal Jayen", or Kishore Kumar ji singing "Pyaar humen kis mod pe le aaya" or Lata ji singing "Jiya Jale Jaan Jale", or Manna Dey ji singing "Yeh raat bheegi bheegi". Indian music is so beautiful, especially the old songs. Unfortunately, most of my friends don't know these songs. So i guess I give credit to Dad for introducing me to this music. He always tells me that the one thing which can make us calm and is like a meditation, is music. When he is stressed out after a difficult surgery or a heavy day, he just lies down and put on some music. He is also a fan of Alan Walker, Swedish House Mafia and listens to lounge as well. In my opinion, if dad had pursued music as a career, I think he’d have been a piano virtuoso.

One day, he took me in a crowded bus, when we could have easily gone by car. And he showed me, how most people travel back and forth from work, crowded public transport, so much time commuting, getting tired by the end of day, all this for a meagre salary, and there are so many who can barely manage even the basic necessities. The message was to respect every single person, be it a servant or security guard or the lady who comes to do house work. We have to hold their hand and get them up. If we don't, no one will. And so came the lesson on charity for me, as well as respect for what we have.

Dad is also the reason I’m able to organise things, multitask and manage my time well. Sure, I’m not the best and there’s, but he’s the reason I learned to get by. To me, efficiency and organisation is key, and he’s the one who taught me how to maximise efficiency and productivity during a time crunch.

To conclude, there may be a lot of father-figures in my life, but I’ll always have only one dad. He’s my mentor, my best friend, my partner-in-crime, and above all else, my home. And in my eyes, there’s nobody I’d be more honoured to call Papa.