He is a man with dark mustache, a man with big first finger, a man with knowledge of everything, a man who is most reliable. Other people call him by different names, I just call him Dad.
When I was just a kid, he was like superman to me. My belief has not yet changed. He used to lift me up and down. Swing me in the air and catch me without any efforts. I always felt safe with him. Whenever he used to take me out into the Mela, Circus, I used to put my hand on his index finger, it was a big index finger. He used to guide me with that in all crossroads of mela and today also he guides me like that through all the highways of life. After doing all the mischiefs with my sister, he was that un-penetrable wall that my sister could never cross. I used to feel invincible behind his back.
I remember once he fell sick and we had to take him to hospital. I was in my final year engineering. I was feeling so sad, so helpless, for no reason. The idea of my dad being sick was such a new experience to me. I thought, how come I never remember he falling sick before that? He must had sometime. But only moments I remember was me falling sick and he taking me to hospital late night. My sister, mother also had fallen sick sometime or other and every time there was this man who took them to hospital at odd times. He brought medicines for us, put us to bed, worked hard to give us as much comforts as he could. That day, I realized how much emotionally dependent I am on my father. Our Indian culture portrays the sons to be the devotees of Mother and in the grandeur of it, a father gets, I won't say neglected, but definitely cornered.
I remember when I was in another city for 11th and 12th, he used to come on weekends with all the meals and food cooked by my mother, even with tensions of his work life, he never had a frown on his face. When my results were declared, he stood with me in queue in scorching sun. My adolescent genes were irritated because of his presence in the queue of students, but somewhere back in my mind, the anxiety of results was reduced by his presence. During my engineering admissions, he traveled with me to all the counselling rounds. He used to run down the unknown roads to get a bottle of water for me, so that I won't feel thirsty during the elimination rounds. After unsuccessful rounds, he used to take me to nearby tourist location to lighten up my mood. I remember, for one of the college, we were short of attested copies of marksheets, he searched the whole area in the summer afternoon to find a gazetted officer.
I remember, once I got addicted to a ball and wanted to play throwball in the house, he patiently played with me every night 2-3 hours for a week till I got over with that obsession. Today, having an Apple Ipod with me, I miss the songs of the magnetic cassettes which we used to play and listen together on the walkman. Eating the gelato in the mall, I remember the Amul family pack he used to bring for us as surprise. When I used to reach from school, I used to wait for him to come. From far distance I could hear the sound of his Scooter. I would put away all the work at hand and would run to open the gates of the house, then I would take a look at the bag in his hands to find something interesting, something fascinating. This ritual continues till today. He taught me how to ride a bicycle, took me to swimming classes. I remember he used to seat alone for one hour when I had joined swimming class whose timings were late night. Today also he makes journey of 4 restless nights to be with me for 48 hours.
I have one fantasy, if got a chance to introduce myself in front of large crowd, like how the warriors in Lord of the Rings used to introduce themselves, I am Aragon, son of Arathon OR I am Gimli, son of Gloin, I would like to introduce myself,
I AM RAHUL, SON OF RAVINDRA VAIDYA.
