My identity!

After staying almost an year with my daughter Savita, my wife and I have now shifted to my son, Mahesh's house. We do this regularly. At both places, my morning routine is to go out for walks around the block or to the nearby parks. This morning, during this activity, I met a person, who lives on the same street as Mahesh. A youngish man in his fifties he warmly greeted me. Then he said, 'you are Mahesh's dad, aren't you'? Yes, I replied and asked him as to how he knew Mahesh. He explained that for sometime he worked in Mahesh's company. Now he works at a different place. But as both live on the same street, he sees me walking past his house in the mornings. 

This reminded me of an incident of many, many years back when Mahesh and Savita were small, school going and stayed with my parents for a few years. And my wife too, thanks to my postings in border areas while serving in the army. It was a small town called Nagod in MP, India, about twenty miles from the district place, Satna. As Nagod did not have a good school, we got Mahesh and Savita admitted into a better school near Satna. They both used to commute morning and evening between Nagod and Satna by a rickety bus service. The bus belonged to a local trader known to my parents. The driver and the conductor, usually same guys, took good care of both my children. Over a period, Mahesh and Savita became well known and let me say popular with the regular passengers of the bus. Safety wise, it was a very satisfactory arrangement!

That day, I had travelled a long distance by train, coming home on leave and arrived at Satna railway station. Nagod did not have a rail line and even today, it does not. So I had to catch a bus. As luck would have it, I got into the same bus to go to Nagod in which my children travelled on every school day. Only, this trip was not the one they took as I found out soon. The bus driver and the conductor recognised me and greeted me cheerfully. As the bus got filled with passengers, some passengers remarked, 'so you are Mahesh and Savita's father'! And then, a couple of passengers and the conductor started telling me how bold they both were, travelling every day to and fro between Nagod and Satna for attending a school so far away from home. They were the only kids doing it, I was told. I sensed that they had become almost role models for many parents and others in that small town!

Coming back to my identity now, most people in Nagod knew me as son of my doctor parents to start with. Then, I was looked up to as someone who had joined the army. That was probably a sort of first first for them and the town. My dear parents actually threw a party to celebrate that. But my best identity in terms of putting some one on a pedestal was because I was the father of Mahesh and Savita, believe me!

It has been a pretty long time since, a long journey. Mahesh and Savita are happily married and settled. Once again, in a different country and in new towns, whether on Demsterk ave or Bellingham way, I am being recognised as Mahesh's or Savita's father. Allow me to say, like all parents, my wife and I are very proud of them. The time has come now to pass the baton! I suppose, Mahesh and Jignasa, Neeraj and Savita for all their accomplishments, God bless them, are also identified as parents of our grandchildren, Gattu, Bachchu and Mallika. As for my wife and myself, our identity has become more glorious;we are their Nana and Nani!

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