Goodbye to Appa

I was woken up by the alarm and to my surprise I saw Shoba already awake. She was chanting something kneeling in front of the Idols of God that we had kept in the corner the hall. As I unpacked a few things the previous night, I took out the idols that I had carried from home and placed it beside the ones Shoba had kept. I woke up in a hurry, got ready and knelt down to pray. As I prayed to God, I realized that he was the one I needed the most. My trust in him grew deeper.

Both Shoba’s dad and Appa came to our room to see if we were ready to leave. It was drizzling outside and it was a perfect weather to start off my professional life. Poornima, Shoba and I walked to the bus stop and both the Dads followed behind. Bus came and everyone was climbing in. As I climbed in, I waved to my Dad. I looked at him with a heavy heart but with a smile on my face and my Dad had a smile too, the same kind of smile that I was smiling. We knew that this would be the last time we would see each other for the next one and a half months. I said “Thanks” loudly as I peeped out of the window and he smiled back. He knew I would be fine and I knew he needed me back home but he would be fine too.

It’s a strange relationship that a daughter and a father share, especially with the eldest daughter. My Dad loves my younger sister. Dad loves me too, but not as much as he loves my sister. More than love, Dad takes pride in me; he shares his problems and takes suggestions from me. He treats me like a friend than a daughter. That’s how I treat him too. We tease each other, we fight, we play cards, we watch cartoons, we share thoughts, we say sorry and thank you and we trust. He does all this with my sister too, but with a feeling of love and with a feeling of a young kid with him. That’s not the case with me. So, as I bid good bye I knew I would miss a friend more than a family member.

We reached PDC in half an hour. My Hostel was about 13 kms away from office. I saw a lake, an army camp and some really big autos on my way to office. The bus stopped right in front of the gate.