Baba!

Father - That's what the word means to many children in India, including me. I don't know what prompted me to write about him, probably his 64th birthday on 2nd of February!

What should I write? It is very difficult for a person with limited writing abilities like me to describe my feelings for him. There are a lot of emotions in my mind right now, too many to describe. Whenever I sit back and think about him, my mind fills with a pride, for he is wonderfully likable. He has the uncanny knack of finding a soft spot in the toughtest of cookies, a fine example of which would be his relationship with my Grandfather. It was very difficult to get into the good books of my Grandpa, forget maintaining your place there and yet Baba was always at the top pf it. I never heard my Grandpa complain about him, in fact he was always all praise!

I wonder how he manages to be so likable, to make happy every person he is connceted with, knowing well that there is hardly any chance that the favour will be returned. And I think that's just the essence of it. Baba is always ready to help anyone who know him or asks him. All his gestures are very natural, nothing artificial or fabricated, just to earn a few brownie points. He helps people because he likes to, not because he will later be able to ask for favour in return. Baba may not have earned huge loads of money, but the goodwill that he has earned over the years is keeping him in good stead, and I am sure will continue to do so.

I will not put Baba in the highly educated class, because all he has to show for a degree is a part-time BA. But degrees can't buy wisdom, it has to be present in the system. Testimony to the fact are some far sighted decisions he has taken for us, his family. These decisions gave his three sons the leeway to take more risks than he could, to achieve things he could not. He is open to new ideas, which makes him a good listener and quick learner - qualitites which helped him make an immense impression in his 35 years of service. He can be a calming influence in chaotic situations, for come what may - he won't panic. He is not a control-freak and allows people to make decisions and work the way they want to, just watching from a distance - quality of a good leader, which he was at his workplace, but never had a title to that effect. He has allowed us to choose what we wanted to do with our lives and stood behind all our decisions, for he is supremely confident of the three of us and knows that we live by his values!

Finally, I know that I have troubled him a lot (probably the most) - knowingly and unknowingly - without being scolded for once. I have many such situations, which I won't cite here, for they are the constant reminder of his importance to me. It is getting too late now and I must sleep as I have to resume work at the office in the morning. My workplace is a lot different than Baba's, but his methods still work!!!