'' Simple living and high thinking''....that was my father,BABA..!

  That was my father...Not only he quoted this often..., but also practised   this...Simple living and high thinking..!We called him BABA....!
So much so that today  being  fathers day... when I wanted  to describe him  to myself....the first few words which I wrote was this ,which came out  with out making any effort to find words..!

       Yes, he was an epitome of simplicity...which was alluring......!   Though he was not very expressive of his love,  like most of the loving  fathers.these days  do, showering kids with presents.... little he could do even if he wanted , with his small  pay packet and six  children to shower his love..!
        But a doting father he was  ,, no doubt ..... i  remember..my share of a spoon full of ' egg flip ' ..he used to call it  .that was his morning routine...to beat the white of an egg or two, poured carefully.  .. to the last drop into.. a white porcelain .bowl  and beat it....tuk tuk tuk....the sound for which  we kids woke up.......

     I also remember  how he used to cut the big bananas into half and keep it ready for us...a fruit after lunch...
a habit that has followed me up to this day that  i am very  uncomfortable.. even if they are missing on my dining table...for a day! but believe me.. i  gulp the whole banana..!!!!  But it was my youngest brother...DEVI
whom he called Toot . Toota.. ... got a big piece out of the whole banana Baba, my father ate daily without fail.....!
     We, children owe our good voice and ear for music to him..(mother also)...the good singer he  was... we
used to enjoy his singing sessions...while shaving in the morning..,.some times with the  shaving soap on his chin.....
..some times in the kitchen...when we lined up on the bench.....waiting for mother to finish with the last roti.\If at all  i know few stories within  the  story    in   Mahabharata and Ramayana  i owe it  to him.. ..Baba..!
     Now i   realise, how well-read  he was...,.as   i  flip through pages of Ramayana and MAHABHARATHA.....that i had heard about Karna's sacrifice. Kunthi's, predicament,  parasuramas.  anger.... he used to enact..them all...!
Remembering his  student days.. he would tell us   about.  the good old times,.when he came on stage as ' krishna'..that. the  good looking    boy he was;....the audience  would shout. ONCE MORE ! ONCE MORE....    !    oh.....         we  would enjoy  the scene with so much of thrill and wait for more..! ''AMMA nimma  manegalali. namma krishnana. kandirenamma......"he would go on,and    sing how  mother YASHODA.....went searching for..BABY KRISHNA   in her neighbourhood !
  Some of my memories include....how he used to  offer us four annas.,...to who ever  gave him some special service.... like frying some dry fish for him, his favourite,  waiting for him, to open the door and serve food for him when he returned late from  the club ....,! ! have also earned  some money  by  copying some of the office papers, arriving at the summery of accounts....while he used to bring his office work .. home.  Then. . an Auditor ,  retired as Asst\ Registrar for cooperative societies  in coorg!
!...Later i  was also posted as auditor in the..bank..and that   brought back the memories.... of my first stint with my father!
     I thank him for  teaching me the value.of.  money...the pleasure of earning by offering your labour,for creating an interest   in mythological   stories..etc at that young an age.
A noble man  and a thorough  gentle man   indeed!
.But  it is the way he lived - it is,  simple living and high  thinking. that   has  stood by me...to this day!
  I am afraid   i  may go on and on as the memories are pouring out of me.... but  i will save it for another time!