Kusum Achia
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!
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!
