May 2017 – Life is Beautiful

Papa has been a caring father, an uncompromising mentor, a tough boss, and above all my strongest shield. My greatest learnings of life have been by observing him and his actions. If I had to describe Papa in three words, they would be perfectionist, hardworking, and intelligent.

Papa is a simple man, with little needs and no wants. He has a penchant for good things in life. A complete family person – with love for the parents, respect for elders, and affection the younger ones; super tough on the outside – very emotional from within.

A university gold medalist, Papa is amongst of the best mechanical design engineers, that one would ever come across. With his never-never-never give up attitude, a passion for excellence, patience, perseverance and an extremely creative engineering mindset, he earned the honor of working with the great scientist and former President of India, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam for developments on the Indian missile technology. Papa has been at the forefront of our many prestigious executions for the Indian space program.

Well read, well informed, he carefully chooses words at all times, speaking with an aura, charisma, energy and passion. He has the remarkable ability to convince others with his calm and composed demeanour. It’s hard to win over him in a debate. At the same time, he is a keen observer, a good listener, a quick thinker, accepting the others point of view, whenever communicated with reason and logic. It’s very often that I have received compliments from our customers, professional associates, and friends about his pleasant and unforgettable personality.

Papa is a tough boss and an uncompromising mentor. It’s hard to get praise from him. It took a while for me to realize, that one has done good, when he does not ask questions, and, extra ordinarily well, if he says good. At work, the father-son relationship is limited to lunch time (though I do take some liberties every now and then).

To this day, Papa puts in more hours at work than I do. Inspite of the everyday long hours, and many a times working seven days a week, it’s rare to catch him with an expression of tiredness – you cannot make the difference if he is headed to work or returning back. And when he is back home each day, (by which the half of Mumbai is already preparing to sleep) he still has enough energy and patience in him to listen to the everyday experiences of Shourya and Maahir, and share with them many events and stories from his life.

That’s my father. That’s my Hero.

Happy Birthday Papa

It’s been 30 years, but seems just like yesterday, when Mom, Dad and me moved to Vasuki, on the fourth floor, flat no. A-10. A nice and cosy one bedroom apartment, in Ghatkopar’s one of the only three multi-storey buildings at that time. I was younger than Maahir is today. Debu, Manish and Sameer were my first friends. I can feel the goose bumps already, as I begin the walk down the memory lane.

Vasuki was a much more happening place then. The all night navratri celebrations were amongst the best in Ghatkopar. I fondly remember the annual sports day celebrations – boys and girls, uncles and aunties, all of whom were pumped up for the event. Back then in the 80’s, when buildings did not have a club house, our Vasuki boasted of a concrete tennis court, a volley ball arena, a table tennis facility and, a playground that all of Mumbai would envy about, and still does. In the days when the only TV channel was Doordarshan, and there was no IPL, we had our own table tennis tournaments and volley ball matches. Night games of volleyball and box cricket often ended only after the local police came over, with a compliant from some residents – Yes, we had our share of them too!!!

We moved into the B wing, in 1992. Back then, we enjoyed an uninterrupted view of the Mumbai airport runway – we could watch the airplane right from the moment it entered Mumbai air space, the touch down, right until the time that the aircraft came to a stop. The landscape around, has completely changed – though we are still fortunate to have plenty of greens, gardens and open spaces all over. It used to be very airy – the moment one entered into Vasuki. The atmosphere around still remains electric and vibrant, with students bee-ing all around the building, and kiddos playing all types of games inside the building, all day.

The Holi and Sharad Poonam celebrations, and the gathering of Republic Day and Independence Day have always been special, bringing together our one big Vasuki family.The Ganesha festival, Govinda handi and Sankrantri kite flying events have added to the spice of life.

As we move in to our new home today with lots of joy and excitement; it’s also with a heavy heart. It’s hard to move away from the family that’s been with you all your life. Vasuki has been our home for three generations, and has blessed us with a happy, peaceful and prosperous life. We are fortunate that Maahir and Shourya have spent their childhood in this wonderful neighborhood, in a culture of simplicity, oneness, and sharing.

Purvi and I will miss the Sunday morning walks, trips to Siddhi Vinayak with Raju Bhai, Hiren and Seema Bhabhi, Manoj, Rajesh; Mom will miss her morning meditation. I will miss seeing my morning walk inspiration – Vipul Bhai and Sonal Bhabhi.We will miss Ajit uncle’s enthusiasm and positivity, from his morning visits to our home; I will miss greeting Venugopal aunty good morning while opening the door to the milkman.We will miss Jayashree, who would be always happy to baby sit the kids when the family was not around. We will miss being with Annu and Geetu during their trips to India. I will miss the energy of Himanshu, the many conversations with Amar, Abhay, Chetan, Jignesh, Rohit, Bharat Bhai And Reena Bhabhi, Shashi, Tejas. We will miss the Bulani family, the Navani family, the Kothari family, the Gala family, the Parekh family, Gulab Uncle’s and Navin Uncle’s families, the Kutty and Venugopal family, the Monani family, the Joshi family, the Dawda family, the Sheshadari and Subrahmaniyam family, the Gogate family, the Acharya family, the Ved family, the Thakker family, the Hurbada family, the Athnekar family, the Betai family, the Agrawals, the Modi family, and our new next door neighbours, Mayur and Priya. Maahir will miss Smit, Saahil, Priyansh, Raj and Shourya will miss Krishna, Veesmay, Dharmik. We will miss our sweet little darlings, Arham, Jianshi and Krupa. We will miss Vasuki, and the little pleasures that came along each day that we have lived here; but for sure, will cherish these memories through our lives.

Thank You All. God Bless Vasuki.