Today is Father’s Day or was it yesterday? But today, I had a strong stirring to write about him. We have these treasured days to remember people we love, but really, in life, everyday should be special for everyone close to us, but it is good we take out days to remember our precious ones.
This year, I am especially teary about my Dad, missing him deeply and feeling very sentimental. I really loved him. He left us quite early when he died years back so suddenly of a heart attack. Months before he left us, I kept dreaming of him, he was looking very young and handsome dressed in a black suit. I never usually dream of people I know unless something very significant is going to happen…so I wish I saw the signs. I wish I would have known he would go so suddenly and regret not reaching out to him before he left us. We have so many heart-wrenching regrets when a loved one goes.
I never met a kinder man than my Dad with a truly golden heart. When he was a teenager, he was walking on the road and saw a man without a shirt, he took off his shirt and gave it to the man and came home without a shirt! He sure got a scolding for that, but such was his heart!
He was always so gentle with us kids, three daughters and I remember the times when he patiently tried to teach me Math, I hated Math and he tried to use different colors to make it easier for me.
Though he was a quiet man, he was so creative in all that he did, enjoyed good classical music such as Bach, Bethovan, Kishore Kumar, read loads of exciting old books like Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy, etc, and I got to read some of his books from his collection. He cooked the best exotic food in the whole world, and he was so possessive about the kitchen that he would throw out all cooks from the kitchen in the tea garden bungalow we lived in in when he was cooking! We moved several times from tea garden to tea garden, both in the Dooars and also in Assam and had a lot of experiences in our travels. He was always faithful, honest…and very kind to the tea garden workers. I loved the long night drives as he would take us through jungle roads in the dead of the night to visit another location. Those were the most fascinating night rides of all with the thrilling dangers of wild animals and churels (ghosts) looming in the dark forests!
He knew I loved animals and I will never forget the time he bought me a pet duck who grew into this glistening green drake with a very fierce personality with a mistaken identify. This pet duck felt he was a dog, would stand guard around the house and would chase everyone away including me sometimes if he was in a bad mood! Another wonderful time, my Dad came to Darjeeling from the tea gardens in the Dooars, smiled at me and then gave me a pair of pigeons. I was elated and felt he gave me a treasure! I guess my Dad saw the pigeons on the way and decided to buy them for me and those were delightful surprises! He got us rabbits, kittens, even a monkey, and we always had dogs. Animals were a big part of our lives when he was around.
I will always love you Dad and I cannot wait to meet you one day in Heaven…You are the best Dad in the world…and the kindest man I ever knew.
Rita F. Kurian
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