Special On Father’s Day Celebration in India
It is not without a reason that India is called a land of festivals and celebrations. Almost, each day of the year, there is some or the other celebration is done in some of the other part of this vibrant country. So much as that there are more festivals celebrated in India than anywhere else in the world.
We have celebrations to welcome the seasons of the year, to commemorate for the harvest season, the rains, the spring, to solemnize birthdays of our gods and saints, to honour our relationships – mother, father, grandparents, sons and daughters
Before the hype around Mother’s Day (celebrated every year on the second Sunday of May), even fades out, we Indians are geared up for the celebration of the Father’s Day that is observed on the third Sunday of June
Our Indian scriptures say: जनकश्चोपनेता च यश्च विद्यां प्रयच्छति। अन्नदाता भयत्राता पश्चैते पितरः स्मृताः॥
This implies that there are 5 people who are as revered as FATHERS in our lives. They are:
- Our biological ‘Father’, the one who gives birth
- Our spiritual ‘Father’, the one who initiates our worldly journey as per the four Ashramas – the four age-based life stages discussed in our Vedas as: (a) Brahmacharya (or a student life), (b) Grihastha (or a family life), (c) Vanaprastha (or life after fulfilling one’s family responsibilities), and Sannyasa (or life of renunciation or post retirement)
- Our Gurus or Wisdom ‘Father’, the one who imparts knowledge
- Our ‘Palankarta’ or Employer, the who provides jobs to earn our basic needs as food, clothes and shelter
- Our ‘Rakshak’ or Protectors, the one who cures and protects us from fear – the present-day DOCTORS & ARAMED FORCES
Every year, we celebrate Father’s Day as a gesture to show our gratitude to fathers, fatherhood, and the role that fathers play in our wholesome growth and holistic wellbeing. Even though the concept of Father’s Day celebration is borrowed from the Western tradition as it had first started in the US, it has gained a lot of prominence in India as well. However, in other countries including Portugal, Spain, Croatia and Italy, Father’s Day is celebrated on March 19.
There is an interesting story behind the inception of FATHERS’ DAY celebration. Sonora Smart Dodd, a young American girl, recognized world over as the ‘Mother of the Father’s Day’ was raised by a single parent – her father William Jackson Smart.
Young Sonora had heard about how Anna Jarvis had founded Mother’s Day in honour of her mother. She was so impressed with this gesture of gratitude that she told the pastor of her Church that there should be something similar to celebrate fathers too. And she is going to celebrate Father’s Day to show her gratitude to her father a Civil War veteran who had raised six children single-handedly after his wife died during a childbirth. The YMCA of Spokane, Washington, and the Ministerial Alliance endorsed Dodd’s idea of Father’s Day and held a celebration in 1910. Sonora wanted to celebrate ‘Father’s Day’ on June 5th on the occasion of her father’s birthday. But due to the Church’s time constraints, it was deferred to the third Sunday of June.
Jim Valvano says- “My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.” A father is the one, who brings us into life, provides us support to grow and thrive, gives us strength to fight back all the odds that come in our way. On the occasion of Father’s Day, our young team at Books33 reached out to some fantastic fathers from different walks of life and brought some very interesting stories of their fatherhood journeys.
On the occasion of Father’s Day, our young team at Books33 reached out to some fantastic fathers from different walks of life and brought some very interesting stories of their fatherhood journeys.
Ramendra Kumar, fondly called Ramenszaq, a versatile personality with expertise in multiple skills – writing, dancing, scripting, and all with ‘near-perfection’. Ramen dons different hats – a writer, a storyteller, an inspirational speaker and a parenting coach with 39 books.
Ramen writes children’s fiction, satire, travelogues, poetry and adult fiction. His writings have been translated into 15 Indian and 14 foreign languages and has won a total of 34 awards in the competition for writers of children’s literature organized by Children’s Book Trust over the years. (https://storyweaver.org.in/users/225-ramendra-kumar)
A well-known author and storyteller – Ramendra Kumar, takes us through his journey as he conveys his emotions towards the delightful bond that he shared with his father. (https://youtu.be/IOhpHg070kY)
Dr Santosh Suman, a young, dynamic medical officer is a dreamer, a father of a 1-year-old daughter, and a Corona warrior – a saviour to his patients’ lives during the 2020 1st & 2021 2nd waves of corona pandemic. All these happening in the backdrop of his own life transforming from a newly-wed husband to a first-time father to a two-time covid patient himself.
Dr. Suman says, “PAPA is the word that comes with innumerable responsibilities and plethora of emotions and I was quite familiar with it as a son. Only very recently after the birth of my daughter, Aadya – that I got to FEEL the real depth of this disyllabic word – PAPA – that gave a whole new meaning to my life.”
Dr. Suman bares open his heart saying, “Before my daughter was born, I confess that I was a rather strong-hearted, aloof and a BINDAAS kind of a person. All thanks to my profession and its ‘occupational hazards’. Some of my traits were also due to my transition from childhood to adulthood to manhood. All these together had made me less sensitive, less emotional along with acquired difficulty in expressing my feelings. But it all changed the moment, Aadya was born and my wife, Sneh was reborn in the process of childbirth which is no less than a second Life to the mother.
There was something else, which was also reborn that very moment – the old me, along with new role and responsibilities of fatherhood. During my labor-room postings, I could understand the feelings of new mothers who were holding on to their just delivered babies but it was challenging for me to comprehend the feelings of new fathers who were waiting outside, crying and happy at the same time after getting the ‘good’ news”.
The young Corona warrior gets emotional saying, “When I saw my daughter for the very first time, I could feel the coming back of the ‘long lost warmth’ in me. I was happily crying while holding that tiny, miniscule human being in my ‘palm’, as ‘lap’ would have been TOO BIG for her delicate body. A whole bunch of emotions kept sprouting from my ice-cold heart. She had opened a flood gates of my emotional reservoir which I thought to have ‘dried up’ sooner or later. She has changed me into a better person. I am very thankful and grateful to my daughter and wife for giving new meaning to my life. After all, we all are born and reborn multiple times, aren’t we?
Shamim Nida, a Graphics Ninja, a creative wizard and a father of 2 teenagers. In a candid conversation with our team, Shamim spoke at length about his fatherhood journey so far.
Shamim Nida says, “To me, a father is someone Who loves unconditionally. There is no perfect formula for ‘who’ and ‘what’ a father looks and feels like. The father is someone who is always there for his children – in the good as well as bad times. “.
On asking about his achievements, Shamim explains, “Today, when I see myself as an Art Director in an educational firm and a Co-founder of a Digital Marketing company, my sense of accomplishment goes many folds to find myself flanked with my two teenagers, I feel blessed to have been able to carve my niche pretty well in both – my professional as well as personal life. At this juncture in my life, retrospection to my past when I was a teenager, becomes quite obvious.
Shamim nostalgically says, “As a child, I grew up in a small town with scarce amenities, I would feed my mind with ample creativity to an extent that I won’t shy away saying that I would ‘breathe’, ‘eat’ and ‘drink’ creative designs all the time apart from studying and sleeping. Largely, I had been a “self-taught” designer, learning about the works of famous designers from various magazines. Technically, I took my first plunge into the creative field by painting signs for my father’s fashion designing store. My father was the first person to SEE the hidden DESIGNER in me. He nurtured that latent talent by providing all the support that he could provide thereby paving my way to a successful career.
Answering to our question on parenting tips, Shamim says, “In an era when work-family balance is a big challenge for many working parents, I believe that to be a father requires patience, love and giving up the ‘all about me’ attitude. I feel that fathers who adjust their parenting to suit the needs their children are most likely to make strong familial bonds with their kids and emerge as a supportive, loving and a “Role Model” figure to them”.
Books33 wishes all the fathers a very happy Father’s Day. We salute your unflinching strength in making us the person who we are.
It certainly does make a whole lot of difference when our dads pay our shoulders and say, ” Don’t worry, I am always there with you “
