‘My daddy strongest…’

Said my 5 year old nephew Rithik, ‘my daddy is very intelligent, I would become an engineer like my daddy when I grow up’. His pride for his father reminds me of my young days, it’s like I am looking at my kid self. Aahhh…makes me feel even though times have changed the human feelings and values are still intact. We are brought up in totally different environment; after all we both belong to exactly opposite sides/surfaces of the globe.

For every child his/her father is a hero… and I am no any exception. My parents have always been my role models. Learnt a lot from them growing up and am still learning. They have expertise in totally different fields… and we as children are lucky enough to learn from both of them. My mom is good at values of life, relations (relations not just micro level, but also macro level… international), decision making, exceptionally good at geography, history and also her major subject biology. Once (once here means just recently) I was looking for Netherlands in the world map and noticing it my mom not just helped me finding it but also told me that Netherlands is mostly below sea level and that they have constructed a tidal barrage to overcome the problem and that it is well known for flower gardens. So much I got when I asked for just the location?

She taught us sibling love and sharing.

My dad groomed me with my education. I still remember the time when I first started learning variables in math in 6^th grade. x, y, and z in math? To me they were just English :D gave my dad tough time learning it :)… I was known in the school for my elocutions and essays, I won many prizes too… still there at home… and who writes them for me? My dad. Patiently takes time out and I just reproduce whatever he writes…can never forget the power plant engineering subject in my 4^th year of eng. It was like French and Latin until my dad’s helped me with it… and guess what… I scored my highest in the subject.

To me my dad is the most knowledgeable person I have ever met. He has an answer for just about any thing. May it be inflation, may it be RBI role, may it be economic situation, may it be dollar rupee relation, may it be oil prices fluctuating…he has an answer for every thing. I have always had that pride for being his child. People compare me with my dad, they say I am just like him, and I feel so great about it.

I have been following him all through my life… don’t know when I crossed him over, there were few instances in past few days where we exchanged our roles, my father was learning from me… don’t know when I have grown so far… if this is what is growth, then I surely don’t want it… I can never see myself explaining things to my dad…to me he is the teacher and I am the student. I always want to be my dad’s little child tracing his foot steps.

Is being empathetic enough?

India, India, India... is what in my mind right now… I am not able to get my home and my parents off my mind after my trip to ‘INDIA’. Well this is our choice and we need to accept it.

I had to have a movie fest to get out of the grief for a while. During this movie marathon, I happened to watch Adam Sandler’s ‘CLICK’. I should accept that I enjoyed watching this movie; it has a rare combination of comedy with a message. It is a story of a man who chooses career before family, though it starts as a comedy it becomes quite emotional later on, it makes every person think for a while if he is playing Adam Sandler in real life.

Adam Sandler happens to buy a ‘Universal Remote’ in ‘Beyond’ section of bed bath and beyond :)… it is a remote which can forward, rewind and pause the episodes of life. There was one particular scene where Adam Sandler was looking back at the passed episode of his life, where in his father comes to his office to invite him for a family outing. Adam Sandler was so occupied with his work that he couldn’t expend 2 seconds for his father. He straight away rejects without even looking into his dad’s face. He realizes how disrespectful he was towards his father and family later on while watching this episode of his life with the help of remote. At that instance it clicked to me, how watching ourselves as a third person helps us find our flaws.

This really is working for me, whether it is in social or in private, we find excuses for our behavior oohh it’s a long tiring day for me, my boss really pissed me off… I have a headache, really in bad mood, I should be getting that promotion, blah blah blah…when you look at yourself as a third person, you will realize what you have done, it is like watching yourself from stranger’s eyes who forms opinion on you just by watching you.