Some time ago….

1963

He was sad. And lonely. Yes his mother was staying with him but yet….

He knew he was a fool, a jerk but still…

He never knew how to behave in situations….

He ought to have said bye but why did he act so sullen, so withdrawn. She must be so upset. Ohh, he was such a fool!!

Hadn’t she adjusted so well in these alien circumstances. Yes from a sheltered life she had come to this township and had not she made it their home, Made friends within a short span of 9 months. Set up home, looked after his needs. And cooked well too even though she had never done so before their marriage.

Yes in someways she was childish too. Like every holiday she had to be taken for a movie, otherwise she would just ignore him as if he was non-existent. He smiled at those memories.

And wasn’t she a fast learner. She had demanded that he buy her an USHA sewing machine and in no time she had learn to stitch. He smiled proudly.

And then he become morose. So understanding and yet his behavior sometime made him ashamed of himself. Like the way he got angry when something was not done according to his liking or now when she went to her parent’s place for her first delivery as was the custom. Oh why, had not he smiled at least while she was leaving, why get angry?

How to tell her how he missed her, how to make her happy? How how?

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My father never knew how to react to situations. Like when his wife, my mother was going for her first delivery, he was sad and yet he did not know how to tell her that and instead got angry.

He has always been like that but he also been dependable, loving, understanding and broad minded. And when amma handled home, he handled work and shared some responsibilities of the kids like teaching them, feeding them. My fondest memories of him are the times when he covered up my notebooks in the beginning of every school year and of him polishing my PT shoes and that is apart form him answering my numerous questions and taking me on a ride on his green scooter.

And today is his 75th Birthday!! I wish him a Very Happy Joyous birthday. Though I had meant to do a lot for my parents but could never do anything, I just hope that this post will rekindle the memories of the past and I think he will like ‘this’ gift.

Do you want to know what happened next,how he made amma happy.

My father had to tell his thoughts to my mother but there was a problem. My father did not know Kannada and amma did not know Malayalam ( Amma was born in Karnataka so she studied in Kannada medium, Papa in Kerala so Malayalam medium; konkani what we speak at home does not have any script. people write konkani in whatever script they can write. Like People born in Karnataka write konkani in kannada script, I write in Devanagari).

So papa learnt to write Kannada and started writing long letters to her. 😀