Thinking Of #GreadDad

I couple of days back, I watched this video and it got me thinking:

The first thing to strike me was that I have never known my dad to vocalize his feelings or his doubts. Then it struck me that I have never seen my grandfather, his father, ever vocalize his feelings for my father……..But my uncles, all consider my dad, their father’s favourite son…….Then it struck me that men really are not like women, and I really need to look at actions not words to understand what they feel.

I have never heard my dad say he was ever proud of any thing I ever did but I have had people who have asked about my accomplishments and apparently they got to know about it from my dad. We have more of a father-son relationship with all its turf marking, rather than a father-daughter relationship. We have our own money management ideas and I have heard him comment upon my extravagance and I have certainly pointed out his parsimony that cost us deals. But it has just struck me that for a person who is so careful with money and conservative with his investments, I am the only person in the family my dad discusses investments with . My mother knows about his assets, but he has always left me to manage them in his absence.Better yet, no one has ever given me more than my dad when I have ever been really stuck for money. If fact on two occasions he has had to borrow the money to help me out. Come to think of it, my dad is really my safety net. I may fail myself but as long as he is alive, my dad will be there to support me when I can’t, no matter the cost to himself.Come to think of it….. I may just have a #GreadDad.

Did my dad ever teach me? Not in any way that my mother did, I guess. But in his own way he has. Here are the examples: Link. Link. And who took me to the bank as a child and opened my first bank account? Who showed me how to fill out an SBI deposit slip and deposit cash? How to fill out a cheque? Taught me what a demand draft was? Explained the provident fund, insurance, mutual funds and shares? Gave me a grounding in law and taught me economics? MY DAD. Now I wonder if wealthymatters.com was even possible without my dad’s teaching?…….People often remark on the similarities between my dad and I.I wonder how much is a matter of genes and how much his unobtrusive teaching?

My dad may never have told me how much he loves me, but I too have been guilty of silence. If this video has it right, dads too might love  to hear that they have done a great job of being dads….I think I’ll just go ahead and tell him tonight or better yet allow him to find this post…..