Happy father's day to my great father

Today  is the Father’s day  . I have crossed   the age of 74   and my mind went back    to my    father.  My father whose name was P.R.Rama Iyer   was poor hotelier   in Hyderabad  and  had only completed   his education   up to third standard  . But he was an extremely wise    and intellectual person. Of his own he had   attained  mastery in Malayalam, Tamil, Sanskrit  , Telugu, Kannada    as well as Marathi and could easily read  all English newspapers. He was the first book worm that  I saw as he was a compulsive reader who   read anything  published in any of those   above languages. As a result   he was an extremely   wise person , who could give guidance to large  number of people who approached him., He was  madly involved    in the independence struggle of India. Due to his extreme poverty and  the need to look after    his  dependents , he  only read  volumes of literature   relating to our country  .He was a subscriber to   a paper called “Harijan”  which was being published  by the great Mahathma .He  was an expert in astrology which was our family  tradition. Though all his children were special to him  , fate made  me  live   along with him for a  very long time  without my mother and  siblings . He  used to talk to me about  what he knew   as well  as his ambitions.  He was forced to sell   his hotel due  to labour problem  and retire to the village. He told me that his ambition was    to make us all great   and he knew that without education this was not possible. He told me that  he would educate me by tightening his wants and by taking loan. He wanted me  to study well   and then  do all that   was needed   to realize his dreams. For  the next eight   years  I studied  in various colleges  and universities   staying in various hostels . I could manage  to get some scholarship   to finance part of my education. By the time  I came back and got a job my family   was in dire financial straits . Then my penance started  to fulfill  my father’s dream along   with my little darling younger brother . Years of struggle along with my father   and mother  lead me to the realization of my father’s   dream.

      Today   I remember him as the guiding spirit   and   the thirst of knowledge  of my life, If I say   to him,

“Happy father’s day “, he would perhaps  laugh    and say to me , “Konthe  , what is this nonsense?’

So I want to tell  him  who is in heaven , “Appa , I would have been nothing without you and all that things which other people consider   as my achievement are all yours . Appa,  I miss you even at this ripe old   age.”

                                                                                P.R.Ramachander