On this Father’s Day, the author, here has given a tribute to his father, who despite all his financial and social problems never complained. Who Kept the family going in tough times and finally gave up his life for family’s well being…
MY FATHER was an ordinary man. He was neither a prodigy of piety, virtue and gentility nor a villain by any means. However, as I remember him, he was a conscientious, faithful, sagacious, sincere and honourable man.
He was a Zamindar till the Iron Man of India Sardar Patel abolished ‘Zamindari System’ with one stroke of pen and made my father an ex-Zamindar and brought him on the road. My grandfather, as the people and old town chronicles say, was a Taluqdar (a feudal lord), who owned orchards and fields so vast their farthest limits would melt into the sky. All those proverbial pelf and riches were reduced to realities and confounded into the Bermuda Triangle of loving relatives and friends of our family, who were strangers after a little while.
He never complained; never gave us details lest it would spoil the future relationships and never talked about the family deceits. There has always been a nonchalant silence in his dealings. Life was tough and demanding as means of livelihood were drying up and cluster of four hens and a goat were left with my mother to claim as her moving assets. My father was a born aristocrat and no profession other than ICS officer could have hanged gracefully round his stiff neck. He had no experience out side the domain of feudal system.
We were, seven of us all, were too young and the arrival of eight member of the family announced a tumultuous storm that shook the edifice of the family to its roots. There was no money to pay to the mid-wife, the local aaya, for the service she had rendered in the delivery of my new sister.
We were accustomed to the gloom of poverty and impecuniousness and we had never dreamed the snowy mountains tops of luxury in the distant horizon. If ever we saw, we saw a fleeting smile but not a laugh on our mother’s face. Now, as weakness was catching on, her body, after the childbirth needed nutrition. New baby needed diapers and soaps to clean. All those expenses accrued together and the sense of honour of my father refused him to ask any help from relatives.
He made the fatal decision to sell the goat, which was the main source of sustenance for the family along with the four quacking reddish – yellowish hens.
With tears welling in every eye, pats on the rear and kisses on the horn and muzzle we said good-bye to the goat we lovingly called Bakri-Ammi. She was till that moment was an integral part of our family. Baba left with the goat leashed in his trembling hands for the Animal Bazar. We all watch the spoor helplessly. This farewell might have been a photo opportunity for animal lovers to immortalise for posterity. There was an eerie silence in the house after the father left – not even the youngest sister did cry.
After a few agonising hours father came back from the animal market – not on his legs but on the shoulders of strangers. An ominous crowd of noisy and lamenting worried town folk barged into our house. They informed us that father had met some kind of silent collapse, while handing over the goat to the butcher, who was, at present, also looking at us with a curious pain and sorrow. They put his body on the empty cot. A chapter of family history was closed. Here was a weather beaten man, a man who was, as some old relatives say, once was a dynamo of gaiety and wit and humor. To us he was not a strong traveler as he left us behind to meet the sunrise with a new misery and sunset with a new challenge.
The new captain of the ship, my mother, on whose face we never saw a ringing mirth, took us successfully through the journey of life. She was a realist and optimist and recompensed for the absence of the father.
No love, no friendship and no act of kindness cross the path of our destiny without its marks. Baba, you are no more but you have left an imprint on our heart and your presence in our soul. We love you baba forever.
