Day 2 of #100sareepact
Today’s story is about my dad. Today is his father’s shraadh (death anniversary) and my parents, as always, perform the ceremony with complete reverence. I go there every year to be part of this ritual and to eat in the place of ‘Vishnu’ A privilege for me as it is an occasion where I am reminded that the thought is more important, the prayer is more important than the object of prayer. I have never seen my grandfather. He died in 1978. I have heard of his roller coaster life of wealth, complete loss of property and of his large brood of 14 children. Today, he would be proud of his 12th born, my daddy.
My father is a simple man. He is 67, born in the year that our country gained independence. As with most people of his generation, he grew up in a dynamically changing world, that shaped him. He has been through rough times and has held fort with almost nothing but his mom’s blessings, my mother’s support and his own integrity. He continues to be a man of his word and the favorite thatha of all of his grandchildren. He tells my kids stories while they listen wide eyed and in the same breadth can explain to my boy how an integrated circuit works. An engineer at heart, hands on bob-the-builder type, he continues to tinker with wires, broken equipment and makes them work, almost magically.
Proud to be your daughter Appa Hariharan Dharmarajan I owe you a lot.
This is a lovely saree my mom got me in the first year of my marriage. More mommy stories soon 🙂
Oh, and BTW, the food was sooooo yummy 🙂