Ap Mein Rab Dikhta Hai

Ap Mein Rab Dikhta Hai

My earliest memory of Papa is on the night of the10th of May’72 when Rano was born.I was three and was getting ready to go meet my new sister at the hospital. The house was so eerily quiet that I thought Papa had forgotten me. I came to the living room and saw Papa standing quietly while my granny sat on her chair, complaining softly. She was unhappy because Rano was a girl!!Papa’s calm exterior could not contain his happiness at Rano’s birth.

When I think of where my Dad came from and what he has achieved, I am so proud and honoured to be his daughter. Papa is the only kid from a Kanpur family of 7 children who educated himself.When he got admission in ITBHU, the whole family was away on a wedding. Dad collected money from the shop his family ran and went off to be an engineer in Benaras. He joined SAIL and from then embarked on being the STEEL man.

Quiet and self-effacing, Papa is the gentlest teddy bear ever. He was not a big presence in my life when I was a little girl (none of our fathers were), but as I grew older, Papa became the quiet strength behind me. He came from an ultra-conservative family, but Papa had the greatest aspiration for Rano and me. He wanted his girls to study, have careers and be financially independent -infact he threatened me in my wayward young years that he would make me join a nunnery if I did not study!

He stood behind me when Mom was livid that I had opted for English Honours instead of Sciences in college. He watched in silence as I cried disconsolately when an intense relationship broke up.He would pace up and down the street if we were even a minute away from our curfew hour. He would be ready at 7.30 in the morning coz I always missed my GK U-special and had to be dropped to Nehru Stadium. He was the proudest Dad ever when I got the Ranbaxy job at Campus. And was intensely happy when he met Praneet and thought this was the guy for me.
I think life came together for him completely when Paras was born. And till today Paras is his dil ki dhadkan!

There is so much I could go on and on about Papa. How he always woke me up with a cup of tea in the morning. How his strong shoulders shuddered as he hugged me the last time I left home as an unmarried girl. How Mom made sure that I saw Papa before I was wheeled in to the labour room, because she thinks he is so God-like and would like all her grandchildren to be like him.

But most of all, Papa is truly inspiring because of the amazing human being he is. He is generous to a fault. He is without rancour or bitterness even though his brothers cut him off from their lives. He has always told us to live without expectations from any relationship but to help and assist where we may have the ability to do so. At 72, he is more active than anyone of us and is busier than ever at Nigeria ,with setting up and expanding the steel plant. He is humble to the core - and never will you find him arrogant, boastful or blowing his own trumpet. Honesty personified, Papa is so well respected by his peers and subordinates, and all his family because he is true to what he does.
And I hope my Dad will be this active for ever, will tie his hair in a pony tail and sip his whiskey at Las Vegas when Mom hits the machines. And will always remember how blessed Rano, Paras and I are to have him as our Dad!! And how much he is loved! And loved!