Yesterday, my daughters arranged for an all-Italian supper of pasta and Pizza with garlic bread for their Baba. As I was washing down all that great food with a glass of coke I felt so blessed.
In my younger days, we neither had the awareness nor the luxury of such DAYS to acknowledge our loved ones. The only days I recall celebrating were Birthdays and the occasional special anniversary (the tenth, the twenty fifth etc.). Those were simpler times……
Times change. The bond, the love, that heavenly security in one’s father’s arms remain. This is how the feelings, the thoughts, the conviction to take one’s rightful place on the world stage flow down from one generation to the next.
My father Late Debabrata Ghosal gave wings to my creative imagination since childhood. He inculcated the ‘can do’ mindset in me. Decades after he has left my side, I continue to sense his guiding compass when confronted by life’s situations.
Though I too held my daughters in the same manner that Bapi held me decades earlier, have I been able to pass on the right values and mindset onto them? I suppose only time will remain a witness to that ……
Riya and me
In Learning………..
A New Beginning 
A nice and sweet revelation of emotions Shakti ji on Father’s Day! Great to read the positive thoughts instilled in you by your late father.
I think my father by enabling my higher studies, really gave wings to many of my dreams and made them possible.
And lovely photographs both ❤❤
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Dear Wasim,
Delighted to see your comment. Indeed, growing up as we did in a developing country with a hugely aspirational middle class, the predominant focus of most parents was to provide good education to their children so that they ‘go up the ladder’. I suppose all of us have benefitted from this parental mindset and we need to be grateful for that.
Stay well, stay safe
Shakti Ghosal
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Sweet, Shakti. The absence of holidays for such events as fatherhood, wedding anniversaries, and such are apparently unknown to many mainland Chinese. We had Chinese friends visiting us a few years ago in Hawaii, and the man, whom I have known for years, had a new young wife. We were later to discover that this was their honeymoon!! Unbeknownst to us… later when I asked him what his new wife’s birthday was, he had to really think. He said, “we don’t celebrate much except New Year’s in China.”
That took me aback a bit. Being raised in a country that has holidays for every darn thing, it was surprising and I have never forgotten it. Americans are largely ignorant of other countries and how they operate culturally. This and other events over the years have taught me respect for differences in a new profound way.
Blessings to you on Father’s Day, belatedly. 🙏❤️
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Dear Bela,
I saw your comment just now and was delighted with the perspective that you have brought in. Indeed, during every celebration time, if we were to enlarge our world view to encompass some more of the world and all that is in it, the difference we could usher in could indeed be profound.
Alas! we remain so grounded in seeing everything ‘out there’ through our own conditioned and warped belief “me…mine… ours” lenses, it always comes down to ‘ We versus they’. So yes, we need to constantly learn to catch ourselves when we do this and ‘teach’ ourselves to shift.
Blessings to you too
Shakti
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Yes. We do. 🙏
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