Father's Love

Agnel

Fighting to get up from the bed, early morning around 8, I wake up at the sound of my ringing phone. My old friend gives me a call to check on me. I had scared her the previous night with the kind of mood I was in. I spoke to her. She tried to help me by saying some good words still the harsh way, cos that way people think it might just sink in. She closed the call after 10 mins of pep talk.

Watching my face in the mirror, reluctant to go to office, I took my toothbrush and carelessly brushed my teeth for the sake of it. Sitting idle and with a blank mind, without any control over my thoughts I was wondering how much better life would be, if things had gone the way I wanted it to. Still trying to accept reality I kept fighting every second, every minute, every hour, every single day.

9AM, my dad calls me for breakfast, a rarity these days with heavy work load we both have to cope up with. Gulping down the food I saw on my plate, I didn't even bother to notice what I had eaten. 9:20, we both left home.

My office was in shols and I had to take up the MTC to reach office that day since I missed my early morning route bus. Daddy dropped me at the railway station from where I had to catch a train and then the ultimate journey with the local MTC. I ended up boarding a crowded bus at saidapet. Construction workers, school children, electricians, lazy (rather I should say tired) software engineers who missed their regular route buses cos they came home late and slept (I can empathize better cos I am one of them), market Shopkeepers and regular co workers were part of the crowd. I sometimes feel really uncomfortable standing with these people who sometimes don't even know the manners of how to behave in such crowded situations. You get to see the selfish attitude of men and women who jump from one place to the other in search of a seat not bothered about how they get there stamping and pushing others.

Someone pushed me from the back and I turn back to see the face of that unruly man. To my surprise I saw a beautiful young girl hugging her father with a scared look on her face. I started observing the kid and her father. She happened to be a 3-4 year old kid, who had just joined school, new pairs of shinning black shoes, new uniform , new hairband, a dummy watch to match the style and an amazingly cute bag with sir mickey mouse on top. Her father on the other hand, an old shirt which he would have bought 4 to 5 years ago, an old pair of slippers, no watch... okay let me not get too much into details here. He looked like a man fighting for survival everyday with a meager amount of salary he gets and that salary would be enough for the present living. His daughter on the other hand looked like a girl from a well educated family with her dress and appearance to add to her class.

A contrast! I couldn't believe that man would be her dad. Believe me. He was her dad.

I saw Love and nothing but real Love. There was no place to stand in that bus, but still that man got into the bus to make sure his daughter gets to reach her school on time. The girl couldn't stand down, fearing the large crowd inside the bus, she clung on to her papa's throat and closed her eyes. One hand holding the girl. The other hand holding her school bag and her lunch bag, this man did the act of balancing to perfection. His aim was to get his daughter on time to school no matter what. He did just that. 15 mins in the bus struggling to stand steady with the driver occasionally pressing the brakes. Their stop arrived and he got down with his kid still clutching his throat and her eyes still closed. Her father made sure she felt none of the discomfort he felt. As soon as he got down, there was her school. He slowly and carefully let his daughter down. She opened her eyes, realised she had reached school, took her bag, gave daddy a kiss, bid bye with her cute little hands and went in. As she was waving her hand, my bus had to take a right turn and I missed what happened next.

Now you guys might be wondering whats the big deal about this little episode.

It talks a great deal about father's love. We often hear articles which speaks about mother's love, not very often we hear about father's love. So I thought I'll pen down one after this incident. This man, who doesn't happen to have a hefty salary, sacrificed all that he had to make sure his daughter lives a happy life. She goes to school where she would meet 100s of other gals and boys dressed up equally good, worse or better. At her age, she might not be able to find the difference of all this. But her dad made sure she feels equal with all other kids at school.

He is great. That's father's love!