DeSaKa's World

My paternal grand father lived with my grand mother and 2 sons in a very very small village in the southern part of India. He was a farmer and a tailor. One unfortunate day, the Cholera epidemic spread across the village and he lost his wife to Cholera!! After a period, he decided to remarry because he had to take care of two kids. So he re-married and my father was born. But when dad was just 3 months old, he lost his mom to Cholera. So my grand dad lost his second wife again to Cholera! Thoroughly depressed, he just left India and somehow did not bother about my dad who was just 3 months that time. Since it was a tiny village, a few relatives and all the villagers took care of dad with respect to food. One God sent villager put my dad into a government school which was till 9th grade. From a very young age, dad worked in cow sheds, farms etc and studied as well. Somehow he managed to study till 9th grade. This was the time when my grand father returned to India and for the first time my dad met his dad. He was waiting desperately for this day. He imagined that his father would love him, cuddle him, kiss him like normal dads but unfortunately, the first question my grand dad asked was "I heard you finished 9th grade. Are you interested in studying further or should I arrange a cow shed for you for the rest of your life?". Disappointed to see an emotionless dad, my dad said "I want to study". He was then admitted into a Christian School/College which was about 1 hour walking distance from the village. Dad walked everyday to school/college, continued working in the village cow sheds/farms, studied at night under the street light and became the first man in his village to successfully complete Diploma in Mechanical Engineering in English medium college. Post this also, he struggled finding a decent job. After a lot of trouble, he got entry into the Indian Navy. Today he is retired from a dignified position from Indian Navy and is living in the same village where he was born. Whenever I visit my dad, I feel so proud to see that the villagers come to him for his valuable advice/feedback/suggestion. The determination, dedication, optimism and hope for the future that dad had from a very young age took him places and he is a living legend for us and lot of people in our village. Whenever I feel low in life, I remember this story and the confidence and hope it boosts in me is tremendous. I am glad that I got an opportunity to post this story because of the contest launched by https://housing.com/lookup through Indiblogger . Thank you.






This post is a part of IndiBlogger Happy hours and https://housing.com/lookup