happy father's day.

today is really an awesome day,the day which is worth more than anything in my life,worth more than any achievement of my life,today is the 20th of june though nothing special in the calender,but its very special for me,its father's day.

father,the word is very precious to me,very close to my heart.i have literally seen the world through his eyes,learnt through his experiences,lived through his dreams.i don't no if i am worth him, for he is one selfless being sacrificing his health,his needs and priorities for two of his children...well actually three include my dog too.


i think it is time i must introduce my father to you,keeping his name anonymous,i would like to talk about his life,his childhood,his struggles,his achievements everything i know about so far......

my father was the youngest in his family,born after three sons six daughters and 8 miscarriages to my grandmother,to one of the most respected and prosperous families of north kolkata,i don't know if god has scripted his fate with some good intentions in mind,when he was 9 his father died,it was the beginning of the end for what is called family to him,he went to st. thomas for his schooling,and after his father died he continued going to that fancy school.

after grandfather died,my father's elder brother he had some intentions in his mind,wealth and respect don't come easy and very seldom they come together,at times you have to choose between them,and his brother thought of staking respect and his responsibilities for the sake of wealth,few years after his fathers death,he thought of outcasting the family,and it didn't pain him to do that,he threw out his mother his brothers his sisters all from the home.

it was the end of dreams for my father,he was made to see harsh reality,to face it to be beaten and bruised by fate,ready to see the world.

he continued schooling to the same school with the help of some help by one of his friend's father,but only outcasting was not in the mind of the elder brother,he planned to get him removed from his path,he was so blind in the lust for wealth that he thought that when he will grow up he might want a share so he sent people to beat him up.three men mercilessly beat my father with rods and bamboo sticks and threw him in a ditch,he lay there for nearly two days,he didn't knew of the family he didn't knew of anything else.

his education of alphabets was over,now began his education of the treachery of the hardships of life began,he worked as a bearing washer the city,and i have no shame in sharing this with you guys because m proud my father as he is a self made man,my cinderella man.

he earned some money went to allahabad if you are aware there is this company named TCS there,he worked at an daily wage of rs. 5 there and there he completed his elementary education in the night school,meant for the workers there,think of a 15 year old boy with no house to stay on,no one known to depend on he lived he survived he met challenges,he earned whatever he could and earned enough to open up a wool business on the streets of varanasi, varanasi so far i know has been the place he cherishes the most,he made friends here,he learnt to see dreams again.

the wool business served profitable and he had saved enough to start on a bike shop,where he would bring old bikes repair them,and sell them at a profit,years passed on he became 20,the family still served to be a place whose attachment lingered on in his memories,and this desire took him back where he belonged,he sold the shop for some 1 lakh rupees and came back home to kolkata.


he saw the family,he saw the elder brother,found his mother at the family temple,saw that life in kolkata was prosperous for all.the mother wanted to give him a share of the assets,a share of the property,but my father i am proud to say wasnt money hungry,he said give it to the elder brother for he has no son i will serve him as his son and be with him till his death.

were those of tears of repentance on the part of the elder brother or was it more hunger for money time would tell,father used his business skills to put up a business of construction materials and the bamboo card wagons common in burrabaazar area of kolkata,the business prospered it was the time of his life,he was soaring high touching the skies,doing good and was married to a beautiful lady,life served him what he deserved he was living a dream in the meantime his first child was born,thats me.what else does man wants a family,a good business a happy life,you know sometimes even gods are envious of man's prosperity and peace.when the elder brother saw the prospering business he thought that my father has started taking control some day even he will outcast him,he made a decision he took everything my father had,and threw him out of the house again,my father came out with no money,no clothes a one year child and a pregnant wife very soon to bore him his second son.


so far i remember myself where i grew up was nothing like kolkata neither i knew we belong to kolkata,all i saw was a village where seldom a car would come and i would be so happy to see it for never in my life i saw a car,i would see the fruits and tell father to buy me one,and he would tell me its rotten and today i realize how rotten they were,my father with the help of a government grant had started a aluminium utensils factory in raunapaar in uttar pradesh,don't try googling it,will be a .5 dot on the map.i studied in a primary school where i would sit on the ground,the teachers would come and we would talk in sanskrit,my fee was somewaht 15 ruppes and the admission fee was 60 rupees so far i remember.

my father had treasures of self esteem,hard work and contentment he never got carried away,i never know why didn't he take legal actions against his brother,and to my surprise i was never ever told about what have this man done to our family till he was alive i got to know this after the elder brother died,rather i was told that whenever i must see the elder brother i must go and touch his feet and give him a kiss on the cheek for it was customary.the elder brother used to call me diddu,thats the only thing i have got from him in my life so far.


the elder brother played foul again and father left the aluminium factory he had never given money any importance he always said whatever my brother wanted i have given him,he has not forced me to give these things to him,nor have i thought of not giving.

we moved to a rented house,a bit far away my bus fare used to be 50 paise sometimes the conductors were even kind enough to not take it.i had spent tough days with my father and i cherish them as fond memories,i remember this night clearly when we did not have any vegetables to cook at home the whole family sat down to eat chapati with salt,i and father smiled he never made me feel if something was wrong he had this awesome smile,though he never smiles too often,but it was magnetic it was charming.


my mother,though i didn't talk too much bout her here,because i didnt wanted her to overshadow pa's life his moments.now she played a major role here,she forced him to go back to kolkata again,he never thought of coming back,but ma forced him to....


it was a yet new beginning,for me and for pa,you might be wondering where did the other child go,well he didn't even knew in his childhood that pa was his father and ma his mother.he used to call ma sister and pa brother in law.he was brought up at my maternal grand parents home.


kolkata has always been merciful,personally i love the place more than anything else,it gave my father a base to stand again from a employed 7000 rupees employee he was there making thousands,all because he always trusted himself always have been honest and truthful.


he lost his mother in 2003 and again he was not hesitant in giving up some crucial business hours to take care of the family temple which was there since 1892,he lost his wife in 2005,the woman who has been a guide,a friend and the closest relative to bank upon had left him,making him miserable and helpless.

after mother's demise i have seen a completely changed him,he talks less,smiles less, always broody always thinking something,the only thing which make him relax are my dog and jagjit singh ghazals,thats it. though he always loved driving but these days he has stopped doing much of that too.


i could go on talking about him,his struggle his achievements but not this way,very soon you will read about him and others i promise that...

my father has been a common man throughout his life who always had uncommon abilities,and i haven't done enough to make him realize how much i love him,i just want to tell him i love him so much but i am too grown up now,but still i don't miss the occasional pecks.

i just wish that he stays safe and healthy forever,for he means the world to me,and even as i write this he would be somewhere in the market buying kiwi,cherry and grapefruits for me,he knows i love them.


i don't want to put up a poem today so my apologies.....

TILL NEXT TIME
love and light
only yours
divz,the last page doodler.