Dad

(Based on a true story, as said by a person who wishes to stay anonymous)

Father, Dad, Daddy, Appa, Accha, Papa, the names are many, but the emotions, the trust, the bond behind them, all the same. For every girl, a father is her first love, first best friend, first hero, her everything. He is the man she looks upto in her life, wishing to be as strong and responsible as he is someday. A father is this epitome of everything a girl would like to achieve in her life. It’s this spirit that father’s day celebrates. The Bond between a father and his child, the trust and the belief that no matter what, daddy will always be there, re-iteration of all this is what this day embodies.

            But how I wish every dad was this way- caring, loving and protective. How I wish my dad was that way.

            The last time I saw my dad was around 11 years ago, when he came home to drop by my mom’s and my stuff after divorce. I was 5, with no clue of what was happening around me. I thought it was one of those routine fights that mom and dad were having, with both screaming their heads off at each other and me watching as if it were some wrestling match they showed on tv. And then I never saw daddy again. I used to keep asking mommy why he never came to take us back. I felt that this vacation without daddy was extending way too much. I used to try and remember the times when we spent a few moments together. But sadly there was nothing to look back on because the only thing I remembered was the fights. Daddy never came to school when I won something, he never came to collect my report card and listen to my teacher’s thankfully good comments. He was never there to drop me for any party, neither was he around to take care of me when I was sick. All he had time for was his friends and having fun with them. Mummy cried a lot. She missed him a lot and felt worried about handling the responsibility of bringing me up without letting the fact that he just left affect me in any way. For 11 years my mommy brought me up, being both my dad and my mom. She was there to protect me, love me, scold me, correct me, and be my best friend throughout my life. Where was he?

            On every father’s day, my friends used to tell me about the various things they had purchased for their daddies, watches, perfumes, pens or any of their favorite things. Me? I didn’t know what a dad was like, leave alone know his favorites. At the age of five, his memories were there, crystal clear in my mind. But then as time went by and as I reached my teens, completely enlightened about what sort of a jerk my dad was, he was nothing but a fading image, an image who I felt more than happy to erase from the pages of my memory. When friends asked me what I was planning to do for my dad on father’s day, I just asked, what’s a father?!  

            People say that for a child, existence without a mother is like a body without air. As true as that is, a child does need a father too, someone to tell right from wrong, someone to be an ideal role model, someone to keep mother happy, someone to look at and feel proud, someone to call DAD.

(If any father happens to read this, then please do look at your child once and see how his/her future would be without you to guide them, without you to love them. A child needs both their parents. Never leave them yearning for love. Never let them down. After all, any man can be a father.  It takes someone special to be a dad.  )