My dad is a person I have admired since I was a child... although he is not aware of it and mostly thinks I fight with him cos I dont respect him... but truth be told I am in awe of my dad...
there are many reasons why I admire my dad ... first one being that my dad struggled his way in life... he was born to a priest (not a very well paying profession but still one of the noble ones at that time) in a small little village in Kerala.... in true Ab Lincoln style my dad sat (not exactly under a street lamp cos his village didnt have streets forget street lamps), near a lantern to study and walked 6 kms to his school everyday.... and no people, there were no school bueses those days...... His father passed away when he was 13... since then my dad's family struggled to run the household while at the same time making sure the kids in the family got a good education ... despite such odds my dad topped every exam he sat for including his medical examinations....
The second reason I admire him so much is cos of the great sacrifice he made for my grandfather.... apparently before passing away my grandfather requested his children to each take up one profession... he wanted one to become a teacher, the other to become a civil servant and my dad to become a doctor.... and I have heard from my grandmother that my dad was meant to be a civil servant... he apparently nursed an ambition to work with Jawaharlal Nehru including even joining politics..... and when his father passed away he just blindly decided to follow his father's wishes and become a doctor.... and he is the best doctor i have seen!!! truly....
Given the default profession he chose, my dad is so committed to learning the latest techniques of his field... he will know the latest developments in his field .... he subscribes to each medical magazines and reads them religiously.... and on his visit to Mumbai, all my dad wanted to shop for was medical books!!!! I was surprised at how graciously he had accepted his fate and just went about mastering his profession....
The third reason I admire him so much is cos he really loves his kids.... and while this may not be true, I think he really loves me the most... he he.... that speaks volumes for him I guess... cos my sister does not think she is loved any less.... and he ofcourse had expectations from us as kids... and most often I would start studying only when my dad would show his total disappointment in me.... and after topping the class for a year I would go back to my wayward ways.... he wanted me to become a civil servant but ended up accepting and being proud of me being a lawyer..... and today whenever he writes me a letter he always makes sure that he writes, "Alice George-B.A. LL.B from National Law School of India University and Masters from London School of Economics"... I find that every cute as do some of my friends...
In many ways I am like my dad.... I wanted to join politics at some point, even nursing an ambition to work with the Prime Minister (still hold on to that ambition)... I have learned many aspects of life from him including how to always be fair in my dealings with people... and while sometimes I question him as to why he taught me such principles when others unfailingly flout it, I still know that what he told me was the right thing....
Anyways, he is off to do some medical book shopping now ....
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