Dedicated to all the Dads in the world

I saw this classic “Evelyn” yesterday. It was a heart whelming movie where these 3 kids (who have been abandoned by their mother) are forcibly sent to asylum since their father is domestically and financially incapable of raising them. And the story revolves around, how the father rebuilds his financial position and fights against law to regain possession of his kids.

I missed my dad throughout the movie. It’s been so long that I haven’t seen him. This December, he, along with mama and my sis, were supposed to visit me. I had everything planned. Courtesy my dads’ occupation (Army), we have been taught to plan everything in advance and in timely manner. So, I was prepared with a list of activities we were supposed to do together. Each activity had a time allotted to it and it was categorized geographically (And u are wondering what makes me a typical Army kid?). While I was gearing up and buying presents for everybody, my dad called up to say that he won’t be able to make it. He was taking over the post of BGS (Brig General of Staff College) on 20th and couldn’t be so irresponsible to take an off on 23rd.

So then, only my mom and sister came. That was fun too. All 3 ladies went crazy shopping (by 3 ladies I mean my sister, we were merely her helpers), no time limit, no hurrying up, no shouting “You girls are very slow when it comes to shopping. I’ll stay in the car while you guys do your business”. We went to Essel world, and those late night dinners, long walks (from one end of the market to the other). My dad wouldn’t have had the patience to go through all this. He would have just said, “I wish I had a son to give me company”. But I missed him a lot.

He is a sweetheart. We have a lot of fun together… hunting for chocolates (that mom has hidden), blaming it on others when mom finds empty boxes when guests have come over, “I don’t even know what a chocolate tastes like”… practicing Salsa so that we can dance and show off in front of others at army parties, visiting ocean park and competing who slides down fastest, cheating while playing cards, singing away to glory during our long drives, evening walks, badminton, and it’s the best when we all gang against him and tickle him. One should hear him laugh like a small kid. And also when he calls me up to complain against mom, “Your mom doesn’t let me watch match. I should buy another TV now.” As a kid (2 year old), I was irritating him when he had slapped me, I love demanding for things as a compensation for that, and he wouldn’t refuse. One should see his youth pictures; he would just dress up to get a picture clicked in all the possible hair styles and poses and from different angles. With those bell bottoms, big glasses, curly hair, lean physique, and a cigarette in his hand, he surely must have been a heart throb (He still is). It doesn’t end there, he would insist on clicking pictures of Dadima posing like Hema Malini and Sharmila Tegore.

My dad gives a complex to most of my friends. He is very well built (thanks to his regular gym and games), jet black hair (I am sure he doesn’t color them), his fair complexion (thanks to his mom), and those looks (thanks to his dad). Had he not been in the army, he would have been giving competition to Mr Khan (Guess which of the Khans…).

If you ever see a person standing in a crowd, talking about how proud he is about his daughters and how his daughters are perfect, (even if they are complete strangers) so loud that people within a radius of 1000mts can hear him, that will be my dad. (Thanks to his high pitch, we always knew when he is gonna come home from games so that we can switch off the TV and pretend to study).