“If he were alive he would be 72”, Mom said out-of- the-blue last night when we were having our daily chat over the phone. All I said was “hmmm” during that time. After I hung up, I got to thinking and realized that my father would be a senior citizen if he was alive. I tried to imagine his face and morph it into an old man… and I could not do it! I mean the man died he was 39, that is just 1 year older than what I am today. Scary thought!!!
Although vague, but I have some memories of him. I’ve heard so many stories about him from my grandparents, Mommy, Kakamoshai (Paternal Uncle) and Boumoni (Paternal Aunt), that I am confused now as to which ones are my memories of him and which ones are their memories that they shared with me.
Amongst all the stories and memories, one of my favourite was the one where he was just a teenager and would run off to movies with his friends… and because they would be going in scorching afternoon heat, they would have wet towels on their head to escape heat stroke. Then there was the one where he took an assignment to mumma’s college just to get a glance of her after their wedding was arranged. (Obviously the effort was futile as it is nigh impossible to find one person in the sea of girls in an all-girls college). I could spend hours reminiscing his stories… all that I’ve heard from family and his friends….
He was a fine human being, kind, polite and generous… I’m sure he had some flaws too.. but I am not aware of them. So for me he is the perfect example of a man! I am sure it would have been fun to know him while growing up. I am going to be a nasty person here and say that growing up was a tad difficult without his presence. I am saying ‘nasty’ because everyone at home, especially Mumma and Grandpa tried their best and beyond to compensate for his loss even though they themselves were suffering as much. But it was what it was…
Anyhoo…. even though he is long gone, I still wish him “Happy Birthday” in my head every year, and I thought wishing him was the best way to start my new website!
So here we go…
“Happy Birthday Dear Father”…..
Image courtesy – http://purnima.us (cake image)
Happy birthday Uncle! You are fortunate to have only good things to remember your dad for! Cherish them.
Happy Birthday to your dad!
I celebrate my dad’s birthday every year and it’s been almost 12 years since he is gone. I still miss him so much 🙁
Beautiful Moon!!!! I can imagine how my daughter will express her emotions one day on her Dad’s B-Day.
Happy Birthday dear Uncle!!! I wish if we could have met.