To Daddy, with love.

I was born in Visakhapatnam, where my father was posted via the Indian Navy. Yea, my father is an ex-service personnel. But then at the age of 3, we came to mumbai and ever-since, I have been here. I don't have too many memories of Vizag. One of my oldest memories is, early in the morning, prolly 5, going uphill with papa to get buffalo milk :-) . The path was muddy, among trees and bushes, and the journey, calm. The impact so steady that it has made a permanent mark on my mind.

And so is the bonding between me and papa.

We don't need a reason to like our fathers, do we? Everyone usually has one, depends on him, grows up wanting to be him, at some point or another is scared of him, sometimes confides in him. In my case, My father is the epicenter of the world for me. I have always tagged myself of being "Daddy's girl!" When I was about to leave for pune, I knew I would miss mom, but just didn't have a clue about life without daddy :-(
Needless to mention, I spoke with him every morning and he made sure he made a call every evening. Even if it was for a quick "hi" or "beta, kuch problem nahi ho rahi hai nah, kuch bhijwau" :-P
Two weeks before my stay was about to get over, my brother had come down to India, so the remainder of my family drove all the way to pay me a visit. My father was sitting beside the driver's seat, as soon as I climbed into the car, he turned back and said, "Chal yaar, bags pack kar aur ghar chal. Bore ho raha hai." :-P

My father is special. Coz he is MY father! Yea sure I share him with a sibling, but I never felt like I was sharing him, he is like 100% mine, and so he is for my brother. He makes sure he picks us up from either railway station or bus stop to home in the evenings. Not coz he wants us to depend on him, coz the mini chats we have then, make our day!

So multi-faceted my papa is, he surprises us all the time! He is Electrician cum software engineer cum experimental barber [lol] cum tailor cum plumber cum Party planner cum Teacher [physics!] cum Counselor cum part-time doctor [ahem] cum Secretary of the local Bengali association cum Chef [Dal expert and all fish dishes!] Event-manager cum Masseur cum Interior decorator cum Make-up artist! Phew! And obviously a brilliant dad and a very loving husband :-)

I guess Indian navy has helped incorporate these attributes in him. Not that he needs any of these to complete him as a person. Now that he has so many talents in him, I tend to expect so much more from boys I consider :-P But then, I secretly know that no-one can be like him. I rely on him for too many things and everything I do is aimed towards fulfilling his expectations out of me. In the grooming sessions with the psychologist in Pune, when she asked us to close our eyes and think of the biggest achievement of our life up till now, Papa's smiling face floated in the air and I couldn't even hear what she asked us to do next!!

There are numerous incidents that I would like to narrate, I have lived with him all my live you see. Just would to take this opportunity to say out loud,

Papa, I love you.