My Father
The years are like falling leaves Time sweeps them clear..
but Love and Memories never die especially of one so dear...
He seemed to be always laughing and full of happy, vibrant energy and life his arms outstretched to hug us ..to hold us close..to give us a deeper meaning of life.. He was my Dad.I will never forget him..till the last day of my Life..A Father like no other...a father in whose footsteps I have tried to follow thousands of miles away from my home land..24 years have passed away since my father died..and not only on every father's day but in each and every moment of my life..I think of him..his words..his love..his presence..his laughter and his tears and I fight back my own.....He will always be MY Dad..The best Dad in the world..the Dad who could beat the world and did and the dad who gave us everything he could with his entire heart and soul..and now that he is no longer here..each day of my life..I realize that I should never take anyone or anything for granted..in fact deep deep in my heart I wish that I will meet him soon again one day..
He seemed to be always laughing and full of happy, vibrant energy and life his arms outstretched to hug us ..to hold us close..to give us a deeper meaning of life.. He was my Dad.I will never forget him..till the last day of my Life..A Father like no other...a father in whose footsteps I have tried to follow thousands of miles away from my home land..24 years have passed away since my father died..and not only on every father's day but in each and every moment of my life..I think of him..his words..his love..his presence..his laughter and his tears and I fight back my own.....He will always be MY Dad..The best Dad in the world..the Dad who could beat the world and did and the dad who gave us everything he could with his entire heart and soul..and now that he is no longer here..each day of my life..I realize that I should never take anyone or anything for granted..in fact deep deep in my heart I wish that I will meet him soon again one day..
He
was a man with a vision and in his late thirties he created an Internationally renowned engineering company that gave jobs and hope to thousands of people in a poor and over populated land . Yet the power and
influence that were his naturally never made him vain or proud..but he
was one of the most humble ,down to earth and un pretentious persons
most people said that they had ever met..He
was equally at home talking with complete strangers from little villages
as he was mixing with Presidents and captains of Industry....he could
spend hours designing new machinery for his Factory in Aurangabad (
India) and then he would switch to talking " Little boy or Girl talk"
with my friends and me or both my brother and I..He would play with our
pets dogs as if they were the most important `people 'in the world and
then he would go on to spend some `special moments' with my Mother.. he renewed himself by spending time alone in our prayer room....in
silent meditation and prayer..yes switching from one role to another
with ease..
People marveled at the beauty of the relationship my father and Mother shared.. They were married at a very young age in the then Indian tradition of ' Arranged marriages"..in fact though all the elders of my Mother's family had met him..my Mother met my Dad only at the Wedding alter.. Wow..and He treated her like a Princess for the rest of his life.....For my Mother it was she says a deep love and trust in the goodness and greatness she saw in him... My father took my Mother to see the world..first they migrated to Canada..and lived here for a few years before moving back to India to take care of his aging parents..While in Canada he made the most of it..the great Canadian friends he made are still in touch with us up to this day and the places he visited and things he and Mom did..not many have had the courage or fortune to follow their hearts the way my father and Mother did.. It is because of his broad minded and liberal and eclectic attitude and respect for all that I was able to meet my soul mate Brian here in Canada and truly to value and Love him because I knew he was the kind of man my Father would have picked for me himself..
My Brian sadly lost his Father four years ago and I lost mine twenty four years ago..On Father's day we look sadly at each other and give each other all the love we can in memory of The Dad's who were our best friends..Brian takes me to all the places my father may have visited and tells me the stories.. I would have heard from Dad.
In
Canada my father made a name for himself by being one of the first
Indian engineers to initiate an Engineering industry technical
collaboration between India and Canada in the late 60's. That
collaboration between Foster Wheeler Canada and Walchandnagar
Industries India was the brain child and initiative of my Dad back in
1969. Though he was offered the top position in India to lead that division of the company he walked away and started his own.
India
chose my father to represent India in the world engineering conference
several times and Father and Mother traveled the world..I heard stories
of Japan and Switzerland ..Germany and Thailand , Africa and Canada even
when I was a young girl.studying in boarding school..The
sacrifice our family had to make for Dad to set up the factory and my parents to travel the world was for My brother and I to be sent off to boarding schools in Panchgani India. My brother studied in St Peter's high School and I in St Joseph's convent..Panchgani is one the most beautiful hill stations on the sub continent..yet even the most beautiful hill station cannot
compensate for the Love and companionship of home and family..and we grew closer and loved each more dearly because our time together was so rare and precious..
In those short but beautifully deep times shared together he taught me much...and told me stories I will never forget the last day of my life..here is one that is truly powerful...
In the early 1960's..My father was deputed as a trainee engineer to Czechoslovakia on behalf of Walchand Industries India for a year. East Europe was then collaborating closely with Indian industry. On long weekends and vacations my father and his friends would travel over Europe by train.On night on a train journey in Germany he was in deep sleep......suddenly he awoke with a heavy sweat and a fear gripping his heart and clutching his soul..he woke up crying and asked his fellow passengers where he was ? " We are passing by Buchenwald the site of one of the worst concentration camps in the world " said his co passenger.
Remembering
that story my father often said..." All souls are connected with that
one great soul who is God..Whatever happens to one of us happens to us
all.". Dad a compete stranger in Europe could feel the tears of death and sadness
that hangs over East Europe to this day."People marveled at the beauty of the relationship my father and Mother shared.. They were married at a very young age in the then Indian tradition of ' Arranged marriages"..in fact though all the elders of my Mother's family had met him..my Mother met my Dad only at the Wedding alter.. Wow..and He treated her like a Princess for the rest of his life.....For my Mother it was she says a deep love and trust in the goodness and greatness she saw in him... My father took my Mother to see the world..first they migrated to Canada..and lived here for a few years before moving back to India to take care of his aging parents..While in Canada he made the most of it..the great Canadian friends he made are still in touch with us up to this day and the places he visited and things he and Mom did..not many have had the courage or fortune to follow their hearts the way my father and Mother did.. It is because of his broad minded and liberal and eclectic attitude and respect for all that I was able to meet my soul mate Brian here in Canada and truly to value and Love him because I knew he was the kind of man my Father would have picked for me himself..
My Brian sadly lost his Father four years ago and I lost mine twenty four years ago..On Father's day we look sadly at each other and give each other all the love we can in memory of The Dad's who were our best friends..Brian takes me to all the places my father may have visited and tells me the stories.. I would have heard from Dad.
In
Canada my father made a name for himself by being one of the first
Indian engineers to initiate an Engineering industry technical
collaboration between India and Canada in the late 60's. That
collaboration between Foster Wheeler Canada and Walchandnagar
Industries India was the brain child and initiative of my Dad back in
1969. Though he was offered the top position in India to lead that division of the company he walked away and started his own.
India
chose my father to represent India in the world engineering conference
several times and Father and Mother traveled the world..I heard stories
of Japan and Switzerland ..Germany and Thailand , Africa and Canada even
when I was a young girl.studying in boarding school..The
sacrifice our family had to make for Dad to set up the factory and my parents to travel the world was for My brother and I to be sent off to boarding schools in Panchgani India. My brother studied in St Peter's high School and I in St Joseph's convent..Panchgani is one the most beautiful hill stations on the sub continent..yet even the most beautiful hill station cannot
compensate for the Love and companionship of home and family..and we grew closer and loved each more dearly because our time together was so rare and precious..In those short but beautifully deep times shared together he taught me much...and told me stories I will never forget the last day of my life..here is one that is truly powerful...
In the early 1960's..My father was deputed as a trainee engineer to Czechoslovakia on behalf of Walchand Industries India for a year. East Europe was then collaborating closely with Indian industry. On long weekends and vacations my father and his friends would travel over Europe by train.On night on a train journey in Germany he was in deep sleep......suddenly he awoke with a heavy sweat and a fear gripping his heart and clutching his soul..he woke up crying and asked his fellow passengers where he was ? " We are passing by Buchenwald the site of one of the worst concentration camps in the world " said his co passenger.
"The greatest etiquette is to make the guest feel at ease".
" There are NO short cuts in life"
"Do not use power and influence to harm and harrass others but to bless and protect as many as you can." said Dad. I saw that in his short life as a very powerful and influential man in society..my father used his time and resources to help, bless and protect the meek and weak. In our family he was always helping the older, weaker and not so lucky members of family, friends and society in every way he could. He stood up boldly to bullies and cowards and the indecent elements in society and that was the only time he used his position and name.. to fight evil with all he had. Many years later here in Canada and back in India I was shocked and pained to see how many men and women in small or big places ( even old and retired ones) use the little power they have as office holders in organizations ( even religious organizations) to harass and harm those they do not like ( power is such a intoxication for many)......and I then begin to understand how rare and wonderful and one in several millions was my dad !
My father died young...he was just entering his fifties when Cancer decided to give him a call...he faced it bravely ..boldly and with hope that life would still win over death...there was so much more he wanted to do..for his country..for his loved ones for his zest of life...yet in his last days when all the medication failed..he would spend hours talking with his 85 year old father and his best friends and family and even the Monks and Nuns who came to bless and give us all solace in his final days.....
24 years have passed since that day..I remember every word and touch and thought we shared..Hundreds of people gathered by our house and later at the cremation grounds to say their last goodbyes..they came from all walks of life..some by plane and train..and some walked or took the over night bus from their far away villages to see for one last time the man they loved so much..the poor workers and their families who knew him from the days when he was a young man and then later Head in Walchandnagar the Sugar cane factory town my Grand father helped the `Walchand family' pioneers build ..The people who loved dad held us close and cried..this was the legacy of my father..the man with a golden heart..
There is a saying of the Indian saint Tulsidas..." He is blessed and special who enters the world crying ..while the World laughs with joy in welcoming him..and He then one day leaves the world laughing...while the world weeps at his departure...."...One such ` special one' that the poet spoke about was My Dad..!
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