Sixty and Counting

My Dad turns 60 today. Which means he has seen 720 moons. Full moons that is. And Roughly. This figure has not been corrected for leap years, cloudy nights or the evenings when my Dad simply did not want to go see the moon. But you get my idea. Anyhoo. In my family, we always say that my Dad arrived from another planet. There is no doubt about that. Some, actually many, say he came from the Planet of Saints or the Planet of Highly Ethical and Moral Beings (this planet is very sparsely populated) or the Federation of the Extremely Patient Souls (I think he was the sole occupant of that one). Are you shaking your heads and are saying, Naah? These planets don’t really exist? Well, they must. Which other person, in his boyhood would brink back veggies for dinner on the way home from school with the few paisa his mother gave him for a treat in the school canteen? Or never break a teacup or volunteer to put his baby brother down for a nap or pacify the said younger brother when he demanded fancy firecrackers which was an ill-afforded luxury at that point? Certainly not someone from this planet. No way.

But such is the old Dad. No pun intended. And I have known him for more than half of his life now. Wow. That’s a milestone for me too. So let’s trace back some father daughter history and marvel how on earth he managed to retain those four strands of hair on his head.

Age 4: Wow. My Dad knows everything there is to know.

Age 7: My Dad is never wrong.

Age 10: Those who disagree with him are complete loosers. Then again, he might not know everything there is to know. The world is huge.

Age 14: I can’t believe the man in that mismatched outfit is my Dad.

Age 17: He just doesn’t understand ANYTHING.

Age 20: He is such a looser. He needs a life.

Age 24: It’s amazing how much he has grown in the past few years. He actually understands what I say.

Age 27: He is an alright bloke, really.

Age 30: Hmm.. let me send him an email about what he thinks of this.

Age 32: What would he do? Let me talk to him before I decide anything.


So there. We are coming to a full circle! Happy, Birthday Baba. We plan to embarrass you with an obscenely huge party when you visit us over the Christmas Holidays.