Closest to my Heart

An investment banker and a retired teacher were neighbors and shared a common hobby- gardening. Both spent most of their time in maintaining their beautiful gardens, adorned with every beautiful plant available in the town. The old retired teacher watered the plants and removed the weeds often, in fact when needed.

But the young banker was very careful and watered the plants, manured them and removed the weeds religiously every day. He also looked for new techniques on the internet and spent money generously to provide everything the plants needed. 

Time passed and while the teacher's garden looked good, the banker's garden bloomed very well, with big flowers and bushy plants. One night the weather went really bad and there was heavy rain and strong wind. In the morning both went out to check their gardens. To his surprise, the banker saw that while most of his plants were uprooted and broken, the gardener's plants remained rooted and withstood the storm better. The banker was upset and asked the old man- "This is not fair, I took so much care of my garden whereas you did not take so much pains. Why did this happen?" 

The old man replied with a smile on his face- "Son! you provided them everything they would need and hence their roots did not have to go deeper to get them. While I gave my plants adequately what they required but also let their roots go deeper in the soil to fetch moisture and nutrients. That's the only difference"

I remember when I was in my early primary classes, my father used to write speeches and quotes for me and I orated them in the school assembly, and was appreciated by all. He helped me with essay and letter contents and they stood out too because Papa has very good rhetoric skills. Then one fine day when I was in 4th standard, I went to him with a paper and pen- "Papa I have participated in speech competition and the topic is this" and handed over the paper and pen to him, as if it was his job and I was the boss. He could have written that in merely 5 minutes and got rid of me and Surabhi would be accoladed in school again- win win situation! But he asked me to write the content myself and he will correct if anything is wrong. That took me my entire evening with rounds of writing, striking out, tearing the paper and starting afresh and somehow I ended with a content. Very lovingly he did the proofreading, corrected the mistakes, filled the gaps and my script was ready. Surprisingly I did not have to learn it because I wrote it myself, in fact I could add words and expressions wherever I wanted to and fortunately I was the winner. I tasted the joy of expressing myself in words for the first time and This was all because he allowed me to strive for what I needed, and made my roots stronger. This is the reason why this post is- 'Closest to my heart!'

While mothers are the soil in which the seed finds shelter, nutrients and comfort and it develops roots and stems, fathers are the gardeners who take care of the seed, provide it with everything and then welcome the first bud that arrives. They do everything they can- watering, manuring, weeding and protecting so see their plant flowering and growing beautifully. We often talk to our mothers, feel a special connect with them and they might know everything about us. But the father does everything in his might to help us, enrich us and then waits patiently and lovingly to see how their dear plant is growing, blooming and how well he/she can withstand the storms. 

Thus all fathers are similar, but they are different too. Some are strict, some are liberal, some befriend their kids, some inspire them, some are protective, some are experimental but the purpose behind all this is that their family is happy, prosperous and secure. Yes! this is the most touching thing about a father that he dedicates his entire life making sure that his family doesn't need him, that they can do well without him. Today, on Father's Day, talk to your father, tell him things you never thought need to be told and thank him for his unconditional love and support. 

Concluding this article, I want to thank my father Dr R.K. Mishra for everything- for being able to write this content, for having a number of friends, for my job, for my happy married life and for every quality I and my lil brothers have been appreciated for, in our lives. The efforts he has put in to build our character, our confidence and our approach to life are unforgettable. I remember when we first had a web cam, he recorded our poem recitations and narrations, making us identify our own faults and correcting them. He would sit hours with us in our studies guiding us. He laughs with us, talks to us through all tough times and always allows us to find our solutions and take decisions instead of taking decisions for us. Thank you for forgiving all my silly mistakes- big and small, respecting my decisions and standing by me in every situation. 

Thank you for this blog- for being my inspiration for Life, Love and Laughter.