E-Paper
Confessions of an Armyman?s daughter
If it was not for the questionnaire that stared at me from a teenagers? magazine, I would never have known that my father was an absolute brute as a parent. I mean, I have always thought that he was quite okay as fathers go, but I was in for a shock when I answered that questionnaire. Here I was, saddled with an insensitive and unfeeling father and I did not even know it!
If it was not for the questionnaire that stared at me from a teenagers’ magazine, I would never have known that my father was an absolute brute as a parent. I mean, I have always thought that he was quite okay as fathers go, but I was in for a shock when I answered that questionnaire. Here I was, saddled with an insensitive and unfeeling father and I did not even know it!
The very first question was, ‘Does your father give you enough pocket money?’ Of course not. He is a hopeless miser. “What do you need pocket money for?
Don’t I provide everything to you?” he asks. He refuses to understand that a teenager needs to have a fair amount of money to have any standing in his or her group of friends. He gets an increment every year, doesn't he, but he has not increased my pocket allowance for the last three years!
The second question was ‘Does he send he affectionate letters or e-mails when he is away?’ He certainly does, if you take into account my affectionate letters to him which he unfailingly sends back to me after marking the grammatical errors that I have made and after underlining every slang word that I have used.
The third question was ‘Is your father sympathetic and understanding if once in a while you flunk a test?’ Sympathetic? The only time I got a ‘C’ in a Maths test, he was so furious and agitated that I was afraid that he would have a heart attack. ‘Does your father treat your friends with respect?’ Well, the only time two boys of my class had come to my house to borrow some notes, he had asked them so many questions (Why don't you make your own notes? How many marks did you get in the last Physics test? Do you have a driving licence to drive that fancy bike of yours? Don't your parents object to your long hair? etc.) that my reputation was sullied forever. None of my classmates have dared to visit my house ever since.
Next question was, ‘Do you find it easy to discuss your fears, inadequacies and insecurities with your father?’ Oh, come on. If I ever tried to talk to him about these things, he would think that I was off my rocker and have my head examined. I read through the questionnaire and found my father wanting in every aspect.
The final question was ‘Can you remember at least three incidents when he was extra gentle and caring with you?’ Extra gentle? Papa? Since childhood, I have seen papa as a rough and tough, strict disciplinarian, a no-nonsense Army officer. No Sir, I haven’t noticed any softer feelings in him. In fact, he is the kind of person who would make me run a mile if I complained to him that my legs were aching because of the long bicycle ride I took with him the previous day.
Finally, when I added up the score, I found that he had landed in the category of ‘highly insensitive and rigid’ fathers. Wistfully, I wondered what life would be like for girls whose fathers qualified for the ‘Super father’ category. I was depressed, and with a deep sigh I reflected upon the sad state of my life.
Suddenly, out of the blue some images flashed past my eyes.
I saw Papa running behind my wobbly cycle, supporting it from behind and encouraging me all the while. I remembered the time when my mother was away because of some family emergency and Papa had sat beside me all night cold sponging my head as high viral fever raged through my body. I saw him jumping with joy and cheering like mad when I had come first in one of the races on my junior school sports day.
I remembered the clumsy picture that I, then a six year old, had painted for his birthday and which he had kept in his office under his table glass for the whole year till I gave him another one for his next birthday. I also remembered the life-size Micheal Jackson poster that he had bought for my birthday despite his aversion to pop music and musicians.
Well, let the magazine people think whatever they like about my father. I know one thing for sure that I love my Papa the way he is and I would never exchange him for any other father in the world.
