That Forgotten Man!

[NOV]

At 4 Years
My daddy is great.

At 6 Years
My daddy knows everybody.

At 10 Years
My daddy is good but is short tempered

At 12 Years
My daddy was very nice to me when I was young.

At 14 Years
My daddy is getting fastidious.

At 16 Years
My daddy is not in line with the current times.

At 18 Years
My daddy is becoming increasingly cranky.

At 20 Years
Oh! Its becoming difficult to tolerate daddy. Wonder how Mother puts up with him.

At 25 Years
Daddy is objecting to everything.

At 30 Years
It's becoming difficult to manage my son. I was so scared of my father when I was young.

At 40 Years
Daddy brought me up with so much discipline. Even I should do the same.

At 45 Years
I am baffled as to how my daddy brought us up.

At 50 Years
My daddy faced so many hardships to bring us up. I am unable to manage a single son.

At 55 Years
My daddy was so far sighted and planned so many things for us. He is one of his kind and unique.

At 60 Years
My daddy is great.

Thus, it took 56 years to complete the cycle and come back to the 1st stage.

Realize the true value of your parents before its too late

[NOV]

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[sathya_1979]

I do not believe in these days. If you truely love ur Father, Mother, Spouse etc, you should truely respect them throughout your life and make them proud and happy. I presume the days are the invention of west where family relations after certain age gets to see only once in a while, like a get-to-gather. Sorry to see such a trend spreading fast in India.
Make no misatke - Am an not deriding such days. But, only their relevance in India.

[NOV]

Thanks for you views, although I don't see any point in your post.
OK, let's move on.

[NOV]

I have very vague memories of my father. He died when I was not even 11, and in those days a 10 year old kid was really a kid. Not the super smart pre-teen of these days.

Being the youngest of 7, I rarely received any attention from my father - either in a positive or negative way. I do remember getting a slap for refunding money on a spoilt coconut (we had a sundry shop then.) My father's theory was the woman could have bought the coconut anywhere and then claimed to have bought it at our shop.

Thats why the film Emttan Magan has a lot of significance in my life.

During his last few months, I remember he, my elder brother and I having a race. He tripped and fell and blood was oozing out of his chest. Bad memories.

But whatever said and done, he was the most responsible man I ever knew. His family was everything to him and his sacrifices are just untold.

He came from Tanjore to Penang when he was just 16, with no money in his pockets. He already had a keen business sense and soon was selling Indian sweets (laddu, jelebi, etc).

From that he progressed to getting into the sundry goods business. He was 35 when he met my mother who was 20 and fell in love. He was a staunch Vaishnavite while my mother was a staunch Catholic. He was totally uneducated, while my mother was a convent school student. He had nobody to his name, while my mother's father was a lawyer (this was during British occupation times.)
But as they say, love was blind, and my father proposed. My mother's family was agreeable only if my father would convert, to which my father agreed readily.

After the simple wedding, my mother had the first taste. It was thier wedding night and my father asked my mother to read out the marriage certificate. Innocently my mother read out everything including my father's name. And she got a shock of her life when she received a slap for mentioning her husband's name. My mother was born in Kuala Lumpur and raised entirely as a sheltered child. She used to go to church with escort!

Needless to say, my father did not convert. Not only that, he converted my mother and she took on a Hindu name. The family came soon after that, and my mother learned to become the perfect wife.

In a peculiar way, my father also sheltered my mother from the harsh realities of life. When he passed on, all of us were left helpless - we did not know what to do! For father had done EVERYTHING for us. He was the one who would buy clothes for us, register us in school, take us to clinic, etc. In fact he decided everything for us - including what film to watch (which was one a year.)

The only off day he took was once a year during Deepavali. For the rest of the year, he slogged. He would get up before 5.00 am every single day to go to the market for purchases. Every night, he would be doing accounts and would only sleep after all of us had retired. But somehow he brought 17 lives to this world. But only seven of us survived.

He took no holidays, he didn't have any friends. His family was his world. Every saturday, he would cook for us. My 3 brothers and I picked up cooking from him. During Deepavali, he would be the one making all the foodstuff.

We lived a frugal life - buying the first TV only after his passing. We wore hand-me-downs, and only received new clothes once a year during Deepavali. And all these clothes were picked by him.
But we were never with needs. We had a roof over our heads, food on the table and clothes to cover our modesty. All of us received pocket money and also money during Tamil new year.

Although uneducated, he picked up English and Malay. He also made sure that all of us received good education - and all in English schools. He personally taught all of us Tamil.

Everything to do with our language, culture and religion was taught to us by our father. He observed every festival without fail, breaking coconuts in front of the chariot during Thaipoosam to ensuring all the girls of the house wake up early and do the customs during the month of maargazhi.

He was strict and all of us were afraid of him. We didn't know of his love for us.... until his death at the age of 63.

When he died he had bought over two shop houses, a succesfull business, with cash in the bank and jewellery in the safe box.

Appaa, your love for your children is boundless and I am sure you are watching all of us from above. Even if I am half the man you were, I would have fulfilled my dharma in the world.

[sathya_1979]

Thanks for you views, although I don't see any point in your post.
OK, let's move on.

Yeah, same here! Thanks for sharing your views

[sathya_1979]

Thanks NOV, really touching. Dad

[Appu s]

Wow, really interesting and touching story of your dad
I am mixed of too many emotions now for sharing ...

[NOV]

Thanks Sathya and Appu. Yes, I am having mixed emotions too.
Please share your stories too.

[sathya_1979]

NOV, am extremely sorry if I had offended you. You have every right to correct me if I am wrong.
My Dad - Well what can I say about him, just He still does not let me undergo (Even after my marrriage and having a Kid) any hardships and had done unimaginable sacrifices. Solradhukku indha space paththaadhu!