”The baby- sitter will come soon, dad” said my daughter, while boarding her new Mercedes Benz.
”Why a baby sitter?” I yelled at her, “can’t I take care of a just five months old baby? Or you think that I’m too old to look after a little one ? Or in your wisdom you have come to the conclusion that you and your sibling grew to this height on your own? How many children in our family haven’t I brought up? Do you know that I have, while in service, had handled hundreds of men and women , some lions, some tigers; some snakes and some mongoose?”
Foggy morning, 5 min. to 7.00, her elder children, 9 & 8 having got up at 6.00 , had their showers, dressed up and had already occupied their seats in the car. Their mother will drop them at their school and from their proceed to her work. As a responsible
father, I should not question her further at that inappropriate moment and therefore resisted my urge to ask more questions, not that I was not capable of.
She replies: Eat your food in time, Dad.
And before starting the car, she flashes a smile and nods head asking me to get inside.
I too had passed through her age but when my father asked me a question, not longer than in a sentence, I used to quietly move away from there.
The present generation gives a single line reply to our prolonged queries and added to that, flashes a shining smile too. That is a bonus.
Or does my daughter who is the only woman to call me ‘konthai’ (kid) other than my mother, thinks that I am also a five months old baby like her Dhruv?
(With my daughter and eldest daughter in law in the picture)