Musings on Father's day

Mother is always there for you, but father is there when you need him. When I was about five, I was always afraid of the strange noises the palm tree, opposite to the house where we lived in Sholinghur, used to make. The intensity of fear was directly proportional to the intensity of darkness. One day my father took me to the base of the tree and showed me how the noise emanated when the wind blew past it. It is not the palm tree that is the culprit, but the wind. Gradually the fear began to evaporate. What I still after all these years appreciate and adore in my father was his strength, both physical and mental, as well as his devotion and surrender to God. It is a pity that I turned out to be a sceptic, if not an atheist. Whenever I was down with one ailment or another, he was always there praying by my side when I woke up in the middle of the night. Seldom I saw him cry in all my life. Of course, we used to have our unending arguments about everything and sometimes based on principles, and sometimes just to provoke him deliberately, I used to oppose him and argue with him. Like every parent, he spent so much on my education and felt proud at my academic successes. Unfortunately, he was not there to see me earn my highest academic degree. Unlike now, in those days, the appearance of father means being on good beahaviour. Again unlike nowadays, father was always addressed in plural, never contradicted even when wrong! There are no shortcuts to fatherhood. Personally, I learnt a lot from my children as they might have from me. Fatherhood is joys, fatherhood is sorrows Fatherhood is laughter, fatherhood is tears Fatherhood is affection, fatherhood is hate Fatherhood is arguments, fatherhood is acceptance Fatherhood is obedience, fatherhood is rebellion Fatherhood is lies, fatherhood is lessons Fatherhood is punishments, fatherhood is rewards Fatherhood is pride, fatherhood is humilaition Fatherhood is stories, fatherhood is glories Fatherhhod is actions, fatherhood is reactions Fatherhood is games, fatherhood is fun Fatherhood is bonding, fatherhood is love Regards! - mOhana