My Dad (grandfather) — The best person in my life

I always wanted to take up blogging full time so that I can read through these memories of things and people much much later and think of good old days..

One such person who will forever be etched in my memory (and writing it down so I don’t forget anything else) is my grandfather. I lovingly called him Dad (short for Dadu in bengali, which I perhaps couldn’t pronounce when I was a kid)

Me in a blue/green saree, and Dad with a walker (and you can see Guti to his right in the photo) and my uncle and his family (Dad’s son)

Before we move on, let me introduce you to my grand mom, who I fondly call Guti. She fortunately is still with us!

Dad has had a profound impact on my early days as a kid. My parents were working which meant I had to come back from school to an empty house. Dad took care of it. He was retired but fully fit and he decided to pick me up from school every single day and take me to his home. It didn’t matter if he had work, It didn’t matter if the weather was bad. If he promised he would be there, he would be there, come what may. He picked me up for years from Nursery to probably the time I was in Std 3. He would some times secretly buy me ice lollies or Jhaal muri ( we didn’t tell this to Guti because although she was nice, she was very strict!)

I learnt the value of promise and commitment from him.

He was a multi-passionate hands-on man and would go around the house fixing things himself. He also did all office work, submitting documents, going to banks, post offices all alone. Actually not alone, I would tag along with him after office. He had a green Priya and a 4–5 year old me would stand in front or sit on a bag or box he would attach to the hook. Those are probably my fondest memories of my time with Dad.

I saw him document everything and maintain everything in perfect order. I wish I had learnt this from him!

Afternoons were taken over by Guti, who would teach me a few things, make me do homework, eat and then sleep — a pretty boring thing for young kid. I did not like my Guti, as much, then! Dad was a hero and won a Child’s popular choice award by a huge margin.

Now for the best part of the day, Dad would take me swimming in the swimming pool. He was a good swimmer, strong and nimble and he’s the one who taught me swimming. He held my little hands in the pool when I got down first time and pulled me up when I (thought I) drowned! He taught me speed, techniques and most importantly a way to relax outside our busy schedules. Till this date, one of my favourite activities to do is swimming, if I get a chance.

When you take about such an interesting and passionate man Food has to be part of the equation, right? He was a foodie in the truest spirit. Every famous eatery in Bokaro knew him, because he had his snacks there secretly! The taste of his Chicken/Mutton curry still lingers on and how I wish I had learnt the recipe from him when I had the chance.

Such was his love for food, that even during his last days he had new requests every day and I am so glad we got it for him — From pizzas, to dhoklas, to onion kachoris you name it. The smile on his face after the food was simply unprecedented! We use to go to these small dukaans and have kachoris, chats together and we did not even tell my brother about it. One day Dad thought of including my brother, John in our little team and offered him Polo (or was it mango bite?) secretly. John went straight to Guti and complained we were having chocolates. He was out of our team!

People loved him because he had been there for everybody who needed him, from friends to family to my parents as well. He has such a strong friend circle that during his funeral, every single person went to a lot of efforts to cook/source everything he loved. We even had Mango bite during his Shraddh!

I end this post as tears well up and memories come rushing by. I don’t think I can sum up his legacy in one blog but this is a very honest attempt and probably one of the longest pieces I have ever written. I would urge you to take photos of your loved ones, because one day they will be gone and photos are a pretty good source of memories!

PS. I have a theory which has been almost true for most people. People with dogs are in general kinder and nicer people. They care about people and the world a little more than others. I did not fully know this when he was alive but he has grown up and lived with dogs for pretty much his entire life up until he had to shift to a new city. As a mother of 2 dogs now, there is no better or bigger validation for my theory towards Dad than knowing the best man of my life was actually the best man I have ever met! and he touched every single person that he came across, in such a positive way!

PPS. This is the first draft, there might be typos. I apologize but I won’t change it because I relived all my memories through these words and it feels wrong to try and correct them.

Dad with the larger family (his kids, grandkids and relatives)