Dubai: American evangelist Billy Graham was right when he said, “A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society.”
I was never the child you’d expect parents to have. I always got into trouble, couldn’t control my tongue when my parents were angry and most of all I never listened to them – what a menace, right?
As I got older, there have been days where I’ve sat and reflected on my actions. Quite mature of me, I’d say. But the one question that I always ended up with was – how did they ever handle me?
I knew it was close to impossible for my mother, but my father was quite different. Where she lost her temper, he always remained calm. And whenever I did get a piece of my dad’s mind, I remember my world falling apart because it was so unlike him.
My father is a simple man. The one thing that I’ve always admired about him is the fact that he never lost his smile on the days when things were a little blue. But most of all, he's kind and his reflex of saying "yes" to everything can be scary and rewarding at the same time.
While he did have quite a high scale of patience during his younger days, I slowly see it fading away now that he’s older. I don’t blame him, there’s only so much daftness he can tolerate at his age.
From tying mine and my elder sister’s ponytails in kindergarten, to calling us every day since we left for college and to still driving us both to work every day without a speck of annoyance, dad definitely adorns a (very heavy) silky red cape on his shoulders.
"He still waits up for me when I get home late after meeting my friends for dinner. And that’s something I will always be grateful for.
From tying my elder sister’s and my ponytails in kindergarten, to calling us every day since we left for college and to still driving us both to work every day without a speck of annoyance, dad definitely adorns a (very heavy) silky red cape on his shoulders.
He still waits up for me when I get home late after meeting my friends for dinner. And that’s something I will always be grateful for.
Of course, there are times when we don’t get along, but he is also the first one to resolve it by talking to me like it never happened.
Our ‘food-ventures’
I vividly remember a time when I was little, and my father used to feed me food – and when I had enough of it – he’d say: “You don’t like Pappa?” And with that one question, I would have eaten three more meals.
He’s also a good cook. Dad cooks one of the best beef curries – second to my mum, of course – the best chicken fry and the softest puttu (rice cakes). And on the days where my mum feels under the weather, or when she’s running late from work, or if she has back-to-back meetings, my dad has never failed to put a meal on the table for the four of us.
A Father’s Day baked with love
What do you give someone who has everything he needs? It’s kind of like finding something extraordinary for Superman. I’ve thought of a million things, and not one of it seemed worthy enough.
And then I came across this saying, ‘the trick to a man’s heart is through his stomach’. And that’s exactly what I (with the help of my mum) did.
Having a sweet tooth, my father got the one thing he used to get angry at my grandmother for – her love for all things sweet. So, we decided to bake something sweet for the sweetest man we know.
We set out to bake the cake and after three hours of baking and frosting, we finally ended up with a delicious, sweet, fruity and nutty carrot cake. I got the recipe from my mother’s recipe book – a diary she got in 1992 when she came to Dubai after she got married – which still continues as a reference for all our baking successes.
Ending notes
I often wonder why there is just one special day to celebrate our fathers. Why can’t it be every day? After all they are super humans.
Being a parent, especially a father, is not a nine-to-five job. To support your spouse, child(ren), two sets of parents, work, and every other thing in between seems like quite a task. To always be the strongest team player in the family can be overwhelming, especially since it is given lesser credit for than usual. It is true after all, heavy is the head that wears the crown.
So, here’s to the men who have become fathers, are going to be fathers, pet-dads, to the mothers who have had to step up to be the father-figure, to those fathers away from their children and to the men who have been great fathers – you are truly appreciated.
For all that you are and for all that you do, a very happy Father’s Day to all of you, may you be cherished now and forevermore.
Here is my carrot cake recipe that I baked for my father. Let us know your favourite cake recipes at food@gulfnews.com
