May 10, 2017

To THE Dad

To the dad who taught his daughter to ride a bike.
To the dad who compared her to the peers who excelled better and not women who cooked and cleaned better.
To the dad who let his daughter speak her mind, whether it meant arguing with him to no end or building on the idea together.
To the dad who proudly always said that his daughter was better than any son he could ever get.
To the dad who taught his daughters that looks would come and go. Intelligence stays.
To the dad who gave his daughters the freedom to choose and make their lives.
To the dad who threw his daughter out of financial security once she started earning. Thanks to him she now invests and spends better.
To the dad who talked to his daughter about Rousseau, Montesquieu and Marx when others were learning how "Kutchu" lost his glasses. (Mom was not any bad either, introducing me to communism, serious writing and politics when I was somewhere in 5th standard.)
To the dad who taught his daughter the value of money. She thinks twice before splurging.
To the dad who supported his daughter when the whole world turned against her. He is her king and she would always be his princess.
To the dad who who treated his daughter like his daughter till her teens, like a friend till she learned and like a peer now that she earns and is independent.
It takes a lot of for a man from rural India to understand the need of empowering his daughters right at their home before pushing them out to the real world full of prejudices, sexism and glass ceilings.

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