{A tribute to my dad, my superman}
I know you’d be amused to hear me call you superman dad, I can almost hear a witty remark from you that you were so good at. Yes dad, you are my superhero.
I remember the times when you would say neither Hitler nor Napoleon were six footers when we would make fun of your physical stature. How true, greatness isn’t defined by how tall or how heavily built one is. You were a powerhouse of wisdom and knowledge, yet how little we acknowledged. You were a tiny person with the heart of a lion. Truth, you said is power no money can buy, that there’s not a bullet in the world that can shot through truth. And we said you were foolish. How modest your lifestyle and how honourable your principles, and we branded you a simpleton with no vision. While in truth you were a true visionary with an honest heart.
I remember how we would laugh and cry on hearing the many escapades you narrated of yourself trying to navigate through life as a poor rural kid trying to earn a degree and make a living with absolutely no aid from home or anybody else. They were heart wrenching and funny at the same time. I wish I could look at life the way you did, face obstacles and problems by staring right at their face and taking them head on and maybe sometimes even find humour in the worst of situations. I feel so little and devoid of character standing in your shadow. How disappointed you would be of us, I fear at times; yet I know with certainty, you were the proudest dad ever. True to your words, you left us with no worldly inheritance; yet you left a legacy no treasure on earth can match.
How willing you were to share what little you had with anybody in need. You defied the very pattern of our society by embracing the down and trodden and being aloof to the big and mighty. How exasperated you left us at times. But that was you, dad, and that’s what makes you so magnanimous and I doubt, we could ever measure up to the standards you set.
And yet daddy, you had a weakness – Me. I could do no wrong in your eyes but daddy how I failed you in so many ways and yet you were the proudest of me. I recall the twinkle in your eyes when you would be outright biased and favour me when I had petty squabbles with my brothers; the times you would make me do ridiculous things just to reward me; the way you took pride in things I do and say. Daddy, you never carried me on your back or your shoulders even as a child but you always carried me in your heart, with pride. You were one in a million and the void created by your absence in my heart can never be filled. I carry regret in my heart for things said and unsaid, things done and not done, but I take solace in the fact that no matter what I’ll forever remain your little princess and that no man would ever be good enough for me in your eyes. I will spend the rest of my life feeling grateful for having you as my dad, for having learnt all the things I learnt from you, though it would never be enough. I miss you dad. We all miss you.
I know you’d be amused to hear me call you superman dad, I can almost hear a witty remark from you that you were so good at. Yes dad, you are my superhero.
I remember the times when you would say neither Hitler nor Napoleon were six footers when we would make fun of your physical stature. How true, greatness isn’t defined by how tall or how heavily built one is. You were a powerhouse of wisdom and knowledge, yet how little we acknowledged. You were a tiny person with the heart of a lion. Truth, you said is power no money can buy, that there’s not a bullet in the world that can shot through truth. And we said you were foolish. How modest your lifestyle and how honourable your principles, and we branded you a simpleton with no vision. While in truth you were a true visionary with an honest heart.
I remember how we would laugh and cry on hearing the many escapades you narrated of yourself trying to navigate through life as a poor rural kid trying to earn a degree and make a living with absolutely no aid from home or anybody else. They were heart wrenching and funny at the same time. I wish I could look at life the way you did, face obstacles and problems by staring right at their face and taking them head on and maybe sometimes even find humour in the worst of situations. I feel so little and devoid of character standing in your shadow. How disappointed you would be of us, I fear at times; yet I know with certainty, you were the proudest dad ever. True to your words, you left us with no worldly inheritance; yet you left a legacy no treasure on earth can match.
How willing you were to share what little you had with anybody in need. You defied the very pattern of our society by embracing the down and trodden and being aloof to the big and mighty. How exasperated you left us at times. But that was you, dad, and that’s what makes you so magnanimous and I doubt, we could ever measure up to the standards you set.
And yet daddy, you had a weakness – Me. I could do no wrong in your eyes but daddy how I failed you in so many ways and yet you were the proudest of me. I recall the twinkle in your eyes when you would be outright biased and favour me when I had petty squabbles with my brothers; the times you would make me do ridiculous things just to reward me; the way you took pride in things I do and say. Daddy, you never carried me on your back or your shoulders even as a child but you always carried me in your heart, with pride. You were one in a million and the void created by your absence in my heart can never be filled. I carry regret in my heart for things said and unsaid, things done and not done, but I take solace in the fact that no matter what I’ll forever remain your little princess and that no man would ever be good enough for me in your eyes. I will spend the rest of my life feeling grateful for having you as my dad, for having learnt all the things I learnt from you, though it would never be enough. I miss you dad. We all miss you.
