Growing up many times I have wonder what an Enigma my dad is !! He was many people in one. A guy who was fun to play and in the next moment he could be furious on some silly mistake or action. A man who showed some amazing fan following at work but sometimes felt like a stranger within home.
I grew up observing my dad very keenly, as his mood many times dictated the entire environment of our house.I was the guy who was entrusted the task of asking tricky permission like "Can I watch Chitrahaar(a TV show on Doordarshan)?" - Yes, asking for TV permission was a task :)
As I grew up I started understanding multiple layers that my dad possessed. In the process of understanding him, I unknowingly understood many sides of human behavior. The coolest thing of my dad is, that he allowed my to grow from his Son to his Friend. And now he is arguably my best friend.
Now, I have grown up and I still find it unreal about what he has achieved in his whole journey of Life. The amount of different experience and scenarios he has faced seems unreal to me in many ways. The courage and determination that he showed at different phases of life is incomparable.
Humans have dark side to them, but I prefer looking at the brighter ones, specially for my Loved ones.
My dad, being an stubborn and proud kid was a difficult nut to crack for my grandparents. Resulting in early experience of working outside and starting to earn money in restaurants in small village of Udupi,Karnataka. As he became a Teen, he came to the City of Pune, along with his Uncle.
He was a boy walking on the dambar (coal) roads for the first time, unaware that having footware was important until he had to face the Chatkas of Road,heated by of scroaching Sun of Pune. From getting his first Chappals to getting getting his First Car - he had a long journey ahead in this city.
For money he started working in restaurants and college mess. He does tell that he worked at B.J. Medical college and there he had seen renouned marathi Actor then Student Dr. Mohan Aghashe. My dad still recollects Dr. Mohan Agashe was a vibrant student and famous one in the college. I still admire my dad's ability to recognize and appreciate talent, when he was just in his younger days.
That gave me an understanding, that my dad was always a keen learner. He absorbed qualities from people around him, had the ability to see bigger dreams. Thats should be the only reason, why he still continued to keep learning, be it a college tutor or any professional he met. He always tried to learn things from them. For a kid who started his education in Karnataka, to come in Pune - land of Marathi and survive, it needs tremendous amount of grit.
It still amazes me how he managed to teach me English Grammar in my 3rd Standard, that helped me get 85 marks (I still can't fathom that fact).
As my dad grew up, he did many other jobs for restaurants. Also he was crazy about driving. From Driving rented Cycle for an entire day, so that he could maximize his opportunity (paisa vasool we say) to Driving a Truck with two gears. He has driven anything that could move. His craze for driving is still young at age of 65 :)
My dad had some crazy goals, coming from a village that had only language like Kannada and Tulu, he came to Pune. Learnt different languages like Marathi and Hindi. And eventually completed his graduation from Open unversity (IGNOU) with language of English... that is crazy!!!
I see many educated people still giving the reason of language barrier, blaming their early education in non-English language. And here I see a man, without caring for reason just going out and doing things, that a normal-fearful guy would hardly attempt.
His thirst for knowledge always amazed me. While I was in my Primary school, I could see my dad going to Computer class (APTECH). This curiosity led him to placed.
There was a time where he got introduced to Excel and he asked me questions like how to copy and paste value. And suddenly there came a time whenhe taught me how to use a lookup in Excel. Thats a REAL leap of progress!
I always wonder, had he born in a age of free knowledge, what kind of Life graph he would have... Making me feel enamored when I think about my Dad.
Dadu - I love you!!!!
- Shailendra
7th Aug 2020