Happy Father's Day

To all the fathers in this world and to my Father who is in God's company now, a very happy Fathers Day. As a daughter, the significance of this day was nothing more than a phone call to my Father-my Babu, wishing him happy fathers day like one would wish a birthday wish and Babu would reply with
a simple, yet enthusiastic "thank you very much" and move on with the conversation. He kept phone conversations brief and to the point. If I ever got the conversation beyond a minute or two then it was a big achievement for me. I would brag about it to the next person I spoke to which was usually Mummy. Today, everything is the same on my end, except for those one minute conversations. Am I missing those conversations? Am I missing his presence in my world? I think I am or else I would not have been writing about it. He was my source of strength, my identity, my personality. My well wisher, my guide, my mirror. His passing away onto the next world has definitely left a vacuum, an empty space in my life, that I know is irreplaceable.
I know he lived a full life. What he did in 65 years, the lives that he touched, the positive role model that he was for his friends, his students and his family, I do not think anyone can ever get to his stature even if they live for 130 years. I saw and met total strangers who kept coming for days, to offer us their condolence. Some of them crying bitterly and putting us blood relatives to shame. None of it was pretense. It was all a genuine love for a dear friend and a compassionate benefactor.  Impossible was not in his working dictionary. Whatever problem big or small it was "nothing for his position." He was an energetic, dynamic, fearless, leader of the masses and a big brother to all. He was everybody's "Rahim Bhai." A social advocate and a lover of people. 
When I think of the good life that my Father lived, it fills me with an immense pride. And if I am smiling today, it is because if this inner pride.I love my Father and for all that I am today, I owe it to him.