Of many things that amazes me about India is the bonding within the family. Unlike most of the western countries where children leave their parents on their own and head out to face the world, in India, in most cases, children prefer to stay with their parents for a long time. Meanwhile it happens that when you lose somebody in the family, it leaves an indelible mark and mostly you find difficult to come through.
When I was a kid growing up in the city of Bangalore, Dad was there to guide me at every step that I took. He tried his best to provide all the things that I would need. He trained me to become an independent man. He believed in educating which he was very good at. Be it plumbing, electrical wiring, masonry, climbing trees, carpentry, cooking, electronic repairing etc. - he was there to train me. We have a house in Bantwal and incredibly enough he has built it in his own hands, quite literally. He used to take me and my sister every summer vacation and made us work. I still remember the days when we made those bricks and arranged the tiles on the roof. Though he was from the Arts background he had managed to learn all these skills out of his own interest. He was a great learner and never hesitated in experimenting new things. He was very well known for his intelligence and passion for work among the family and friends which he tried his best to pass on to his children. He was an early riser and strongly believed in the practice if one had to taste success.
Of many things - he took me to number of places in India everytime he had a conference to attend. He believed that one has to travel to different places, meet more people, see how people lived and learn the lessons of life. I now know that I was among the luckiest to have been brought up in such a wonderful family and environment. With it I developed a passion for travel. I managed to travel on my own to Rajasthan, Gujarat and Orissa.
He sent me to the best school in Bangalore and he was extremely happy I did well. He was on top of the world when I landed up in US sometime back for my PhD - for I am the first one in our family to go for doctoral studies. It seems he even treated his friends on the occasion and was really proud of that. He went to his relatives' place and showed all the pics that I had sent from here.
On 30th October, 2009, I lost him. It was a heart-attack. Death is so hard to grasp especially when it is so unexpected, when we feel nothing to hold on to and feels like nothing worse could have happened. I miss you Dad!!!
When I was a kid growing up in the city of Bangalore, Dad was there to guide me at every step that I took. He tried his best to provide all the things that I would need. He trained me to become an independent man. He believed in educating which he was very good at. Be it plumbing, electrical wiring, masonry, climbing trees, carpentry, cooking, electronic repairing etc. - he was there to train me. We have a house in Bantwal and incredibly enough he has built it in his own hands, quite literally. He used to take me and my sister every summer vacation and made us work. I still remember the days when we made those bricks and arranged the tiles on the roof. Though he was from the Arts background he had managed to learn all these skills out of his own interest. He was a great learner and never hesitated in experimenting new things. He was very well known for his intelligence and passion for work among the family and friends which he tried his best to pass on to his children. He was an early riser and strongly believed in the practice if one had to taste success.
Of many things - he took me to number of places in India everytime he had a conference to attend. He believed that one has to travel to different places, meet more people, see how people lived and learn the lessons of life. I now know that I was among the luckiest to have been brought up in such a wonderful family and environment. With it I developed a passion for travel. I managed to travel on my own to Rajasthan, Gujarat and Orissa.
He sent me to the best school in Bangalore and he was extremely happy I did well. He was on top of the world when I landed up in US sometime back for my PhD - for I am the first one in our family to go for doctoral studies. It seems he even treated his friends on the occasion and was really proud of that. He went to his relatives' place and showed all the pics that I had sent from here.
On 30th October, 2009, I lost him. It was a heart-attack. Death is so hard to grasp especially when it is so unexpected, when we feel nothing to hold on to and feels like nothing worse could have happened. I miss you Dad!!!
