Achante makan! (Father's son)

Acha, they say today is Fathers' Day! Wonder if we need a day like that; wonder if it is a marketing ploy created by greeting-card companies...

Anyway, it is good we have a day like this, to remind us of the role fathers played in our lives...

To be honest, there had been many occasions when I had felt you don't like me, or worse, that you hated me; times when I had felt that you stood miles away from me geographically, ideologically and emotionally...

But, then there are a million occasions when, in hindsight, I recall the lessons you taught, the pains you took and the extents to which you went to give us the best that was possible for us. The small things that are everything, in the sense that they leave indelible marks on the fabric called existence. I remember the way you punished us for mistakes we made and your making it a point to point out why we were being punished; I remember how you bought us those small books every Sunday on the lives of great people, mostly people who sacrificed their happinesses for the greater good. You could have just bought us comics alone (which also you did) or books on the lives of people who made money big-time, but I am glad you didn't. I am proud to think of myself as someone who stands up for something and somebody with some courage of conviction. And we owe it to you...

I remember, there have been times, more recently, when I have made you feel low and lonely and unwanted, times when I have protested against your ways, but believe me when I tell you that we owe a lot to you, though I do regret that you behaved in certain unpleasant ways when I needed you the most.

I do not crib for the nothings of life (like the food we get to eat in hostel etc) and have learnt to look at the larger things - the ones that matter.

Thanks dad, for the love you showered on us, for the time and energy you invested in us and for instilling in us for example, the value of enjoying a meal at the home of the disadvantaged and to help give him pleasure, even if for moments...

LOVE YOU DAD!

(The title alludes to the Malayalam song I learnt to sing as a child - "araaro ariraaro, achante mon/makan araaro, ammakkyu nee teynalle ayiravaLLi poovalle...")