My Father My Hero

He never smoked. This was just for the photo, I guess:D He was very fond of the movies and might have even harbored some ambitions in that direction, who knows? During his college-India-tour (which happened during his Civil Engineering years, after 2 years of studying medicine, as the family had gotten into construction and wanted him to join the family business; earlier, he had received some letter to join the armed forces, which my Grandma had burnt:D) he must have seen Jewel Thief more than 12 times, practically in every new city they must have visited. Guide was his favourite, though.

He did like travelling a lot. Here's little Barkha with Mommy and Papa in Mussoorie.

After their marriage, my mom chose most of his clothes and he did full justice to them. But this shirt was gotten by him on his Lion’s club world tour. The photo must have been for my mom’s benefit :D (My mom stayed back as she did not wish to leave baby Vivek to go travel).
A fun-loving person, a thorough gentleman and an avid reader, my father was meticulous and highly disciplined in all manners, right from the way he’d fold the newspaper to the way he’d close the water-tap between brushing (twice daily). Here’s his usual to-the-point postcard.

My paternal uncle (Baba for us all, who saw his family through tough times, now unwell, has his own rags-to-riches story) and my father were hard-working people… Although, Papa took us all out whenever he’d have time… it (taking too much pressure on himself) took its toll; he suffered from depression and underwent treatment also... My brother Vivek feels if our Father had received Osho then, things might have been different. We lost him in ’88.
Anyway, so, we had our happy and sad phases. He had been gifted back to us a couple of times. He made depression fashionable! :D People in different factions of our ‘khaandaan’ started having this intellectuals’ disease… (Nah, life is too precious to depend on anything outside of us but we do need to appreciate now, whatever it is that we regard precious).
We come with our own sets of beliefs and or fears. And we are always right! So, it is all the more important to remember to believe in the power beyond us and also that we are very much an extension of this source energy, which makes everything we focus on, available to us, whenever we allow:)