Charles Wadsworth
This quote might be an very old adage but the clarity with which the meaning is understood these days was never there before. The hectic, tense life which most of the youngsters are leading these days gives them no time to ponder over their past and gauge the depth of the sacrifices their parents have made to provide them everything they needed. Although i have used words like 'they', 'them' in the past few lines i must admit that i am also one of their kind. I studied till 10th in a small school in a rural area, worked hard to get admission into PEC (A prestigious engineering college in Chandigarh) and the life changed there on. After living through the hip hop life in Chandigarh for one year i could not stay back at my native home because there were no Multiplexes, Food courts, Big Markets and other common places to hang on. I started thinking that i am a big city boy. Even during holidays i used to tell lie at home that i have some classes scheduled during the period so that i did not have to go home. The only time i use to remember my father was when i needed money. Time passed on and i moved to Bangalore for my first job. More than needed salary and no responsibility made me splurge money on Apparels and on Food and in Pubs. I never went home for even a single time in the first 10 months.
The time went on and in the last 4 years (except last 7 months)i have visited home just four times and that too for very short duration each time. Only 7 months back i came to know that during the last three years my mother has been extremely ill . The reason for illness had been the very long separation time from me. People told me that many a times they almost felt it to be an extreme stage. Every one knew about it except me who was busy thinking how to progress in career and how to enjoy life apart from drinking beer.
The person who was managing all this was my Father who was in loose-loose situation. On one side was his affection and love for me that he could not express to me and on the other side was my mother who was totally shattered becuase he could not see her son who had grown in front of him. Father's have always been strong. Although mother is given a more important place in indian society when it comes to measuring love for children but i think it is the father who suffers the most as he could not even express his emotions inspite of his feelings to Children as equal to mother.
His love for Children is always implicit. How many times do we see a grown up boy hugging his father to express love and gratitude ? How many times we have said thank you to the father?. How many times have we seen father weeping in front of Children? Father is like a second God who keeps his emotion to himself until his last moments.I still remember how my father use to make notes for me so that i can secure good marks. How he use to take me for small walks and teach me some lessons of life. How he managed with old clothes so that i could buy new one's. Even today how dependent i am on him for my tax returns, Pan card, Driving license and many other things.
When i realised all these things some time back i felt embarassed and felt complelled to express my feelings in some way. Speaking in front of him never came to my mind as i had neve been so open in expressing my emotions in front of him. I could not even send a mail as my father is not tech savvy. The only option that i was left with was sending a greeting card but i could not find a card that has right words to express my emotions strongly enough. Then i came across a web portal www.papam.in specialised in sending personalized cards. Although the cards can be selected online and could be send through a click of mouse but they are delivered physically giving the personal touch.I competely personalised the message according to my feelings along with describing incidents that happened in my childhood. Thanks to Papam i was able to express my emotions the way i wanted it to be.We have always studied how technology has changed our lives but no body would have thought technology could help in expressing emotions also. It is the innovation of Indian people that companies like Papam have sprung up. It is not far away when we can even weep, laugh virtually through the use of technology.
Anyways coming back, after sending the card just some days back i recieved a phone call from my father thanking me for the same. Infact he was so moved by the card that he visited me the same day and for the first time we hugged each other. So i would ask all people to express their emotions before it is too late.
