Exactly one week ago was father's day.
This is a western tradition, and there are now several days on one or the other pretext; I feel a day will come when in an year all the days would be booked, and if new ideas or events emerge, then there will be one with more than one such special 'days'.
However, some say any such day's importance, and celebration should be a continual thing everyday rather than one particular day.
Father does play very important part and role in our lives. One major reason is that we get half of our genes from him. I am 73+ and my father expired 35 years ago, but still I have not completely overcome the sadness of that happening.
My mother (95 years old) is staying with me for last 25 years, and I am doing everything that is feasible and possible for me (and us) to do to keep her healthy and happy; and I am 100% convinced that my father's 'soul' is not going to know this, so I am not taking care of my mother, because of the reason that I could not do certain things for him.
If he were alive today, he would have got the best treatment that is possible now-a-days, thanks to the advancement of medical science, and health care systems.
Occasionally, my mother remembers him, and we talk about his struggle and the hard times he had gone through. He was a family man, and was always attentive and caring, and had a penchant to educate all of us, some of us succeeded, in a way he was an educationist.
He earned his livelihood with utmost honesty, and did lot of social works, and was one of the prominent leaders of our society/community. He was a lawyer, and he would not charge fees for his community people, and only half for his friends, if he took their cases for the court-suits.
He was a seeker of 'truth', and hence he followed several paths simultaneously, but he specifically never biased us to follow one or the other path, or even to eat or not the non-vegetarian foods. He read philosophical and historical books. He had multiple talents: social reformer, advocate, running a cooperative society, contributor to the news periodical named Kshatriya bandhu, and secretary/treasurer of Kshatriya confederation.
He told me many of his experiences, and he often agreed to my requests to accompany him on some travels, most to only nearby places, but this gave me a good experience of some social aspects. Also, I read lot of books in English and Gujarati from his own personal library, and also from public libraries.
His attention, affection, care, love, guidance, discipline, and holistic approach to life moulded my living so much that I am still not able to forget him.
I think the importance of the father's day is just to pay tribute to one of the most important individuals in our human lives, and thus remain humble.
