I don’t remember when I first heard this jingle, but it’s been with me since childhood! I remember a small girl shouting to the TV screen “My Daddy strongest”!. A quick Internet search showed it was a very old Dhara cooking oil ad.
Papa with friends in BITS Pilani
I can’t say my daddy is strongest in terms of muscle power but in terms of will I truly believe my daddy is strongest. It was only yesterday me and my sister were talking how papa steered our careers… how we had no ambition whatsoever; didn’t know about the various choices available but daddy knew what we can achieve and what is best for us. I had wanted to take up commerce in school, just because didi had studied commerce… how I loved copying her in everything! J. But it was papa who told me about IITs (imagine I had not even heard about them till then!), it was papa who gave me the advertisement for the IIT JEE coaching centre and asked to give it one try. In the middle of the coaching I wanted to leave it all, it was just too much and again it was papa who vetoed. I’m not sure if I was angry with him at that time for forcing me to stay in Kota but I’m sure I’m thankful now that he did do that. And that he had the faith in me all along that I will be able to get through… I don’t think I would have been what I am if it wasn’t for his dreams!
As kids we get to know our father only as a parent; but thanks to my father’s trusted friends; me and sister have known him as a very troublesome college kid also. How we enjoyed the stories Shringi uncle used to tell while they were in Pilani.. How Bauji had sent papa with money for engineering registration and how papa registered for B. Pharma instead and got a nice tight slap in return from Bauji J. Talking about slaps, how can I forget the rather (in) famous Roshan Kelly incident! How he started non-veg food in BITS Pilani mess when he was the mess co; how he used to tail the ‘supposedly cool’ Xavier guys… Shringi uncle maintains that it was his attempt to get in the ‘cool’ crowd that papa started smoking…
One very special quality that I feel he has is that he takes people for what they say they are; his first impulse is that every person is good and he trusts them. Of course this has landed him in trouble a lot of times and so many time into fights with mom but still this is one quality that I have tried to inherit from him because personally I’ve gained more than lost by trusting strangers. Despite the troubles, I’m always impressed by seeing how he springs back from any let down; how he faces life in its face. Even at 60 years of age he is all set to start something new; risk it all again to be his own boss..
Yes my DADDY IS STRONGEST.
I’m sure he fed me a lot of times when I was an infant; but this moment was special because it was after long long time that I was eating from his hands
Lime 'n' Lemony 