When I was pregnant, I desperately wanted a boy and God answered my prayers twice but needless to say I’m the happiest and proudest to be a Daddy’s Girl 100%!!!
DEAREST APPA,
After my recent vacation with you, a very big realisation has struck me and I don’t like it because I don’t want to accept it. I look at you and I know everything’s different. You have aged. You have changed.
Obviously you were bound to get older! Imagine, I have two sons already! But you? You were meant to stay young! At least that’s what I’ve always secretly prayed and hoped for, for my parents to stay the same forever and take care of their little Sneha Kunju. Her kids come only after her.
I miss the old you so much that I decide to close my eyes and go back in time and recall the most precious and cherished memories that I have of you Appa.
Here you go.
1) Remember the time when I fumbled my lines at a science elocution competition and froze on stage? It was your support and encouragement that gave me the courage to go back and finish my speech. Not winning didn’t seem to matter to you because when I agreed to try again, I was already a winner in your eyes.
2) Remember the number of times you’d visit SIWS staff room to meet the teachers for your LIC work? I was always amazed by how children in the corridors would greet you with a “Hi Uncle” every time, like you were a Universal Uncle! Also I never worried about an occasional complaint from the teachers because you were too nice and friendly! They wouldn’t have had the heart to say anything bad to you. (That’s also one of the reasons I never brought Amma to school!)
3) Remember the impressive science projects that you got done for my school? The passion and fire you had in you, to arrange and put together everything in time and ensure the best result!
4) Remember helping me revise my History Lessons for the 10th std board exams? Studying with you made me like the subject more and also helped me escape from the most dreaded study-time with Amma!
5) Remember how you tried your best to get me and Bhagu to warm up for basketball practice at the Hoopers ground!? It’s a pity we turned out absolutely hopeless and not your best hope at carrying forward the legacy! Clearly not LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER in this case!
6) Remember how you would entertain all my friends that came home? Boys or Girls.. that didn’t matter to you. You were the same to all. Amma still has trouble remembering who is who but you, you still can give correct details about my friends even though you can’t remember their names!
7) Remember the floods one year? I don’t think Wadala paati was home. Even Amma was in office. You welcomed home some of my friends who were stranded outside school and you made the most amazing THERATIPAAL from the milk that got spoilt. That’s still the best sweet I’ve had!
8) Remember the efforts you put into bringing a bicycle from Bangalore? We would go every morning to the third lane on our road only for me to enjoy the ride while you did all the work of pushing the bicycle from behind! Not learning to cycle did not seem to be a big deal because you agreed to getting me a pair of roller skates instead!
9) Remember our half yearly blood test routine? We would walk all the way to the clinic at King Circle, early in the morning and return by taxi. Getting poked didn’t hurt when you were beside me getting poked yourself and joking about something to distract me.
10) Remember how your friends would call and report to you if they saw me anywhere near places that were off limits to me? Like that small Irani Cafe that used to be there at the end of school road or near Relax Hotel!? After all I was the famous ‘RAMCHA’S DAUGHTER!’
11) Remember taking me for a haircut to the parlour above Ramchandar’s institute at King Circle? With you, such tasks were simple unlike today where I can’t figure out which parlour to go, what hairstyle to choose, etc etc. With you it was – Go, sit, allow them to do their job, pay, get out. Absolutely hassle free and the end result was perfect- A tomboy.
12) Remember how you would operate like those weighing scales in the railway stations? You would make me stand on your legs for a massage and tell my weight! Your guesses were mostly correct and you could always say if I’d put on or reduced a few kilos!
13) Remember our impressive Malayalam movies CD-DVD collection? People used to borrow from us, that’s why I always told you we could make a business out of renting those CDs! It was a daily afternoon ritual to make the room dark, put on the AC, grab a yummy icecream each and watch a Dileep or Mohanlal movie!
14) Remember the time we went to watch Kal Ho Na Ho in the theatre and you laughed out aloud while the lady seated next to us was weeping her eyes out when SRK was dying in the hospital?? So embarrassing it was that Amma and I secretly prayed for SRK to die sooner and the movie to end!
15) Remember the number of times you dropped me off at SNDT college by taxi and returned after three hours to pick me up and walk me back home? Two years, four attempts, that’s a total of 16 papers! We would discuss everything except the exam on our way to take my mind off the subject! Those repeated CA Final attempts didn’t seem all that miserable because I had you for company.
Appa, I sincerely hope you enjoy reading this journey and remember these extremely special moments in our lives. You are no normal human, you are the most wonderful and special father! You were my best friend while growing up and you still are.
I still remember, a friend of yours once told me, “YOUR FATHER IS A GEM.” Yes you are indeed.
Thank you Chotu. Thank you for everything!
C.A.: Confused Aquarian 