“We share one of the greatest challenges and blessings of life, and that is being fathers to our daughters “Barack Obama.
Let me take a step back and give my 2 cents on motherhood. Mothers are the ones who typically know what they are doing from day 1. They just seem to be so good at the whole parenting thing and I believe those initial extra 9 months they have with the little one, adds to the formation of a natural gravitation point for kids.
Therefore, this already puts us dads on a handicap with a lot of ground to cover in trying to understand what fatherhood is all about. I mean, before this moment we have just a few things on our mind centred around work, family and sometimes friends. Little do we realise that after this moment, the only thing that will be permanently housed on our mind and gradually the heart is the little being about to enter our life.
Now mix that with being hit with a realisation of fatherhood only after you hold the precious little living being in your arms for the first time. In my case, it was my daughter.
The scary reality is when your daughter starts recognising you as a unique person in a few months, with a shape, form so different from their mothers. Fathers add a mix to the air every time they step on the scene, that daughter starts gravitating towards them initially without realising it and later intentionally. They will suddenly start acting in a different manner trying to get their dad’s attention and subtly nudging them to react to their actions.
The contrary aspect of this cosmic connection is that dads will have a deep impact on their daughters one way or the other.
Your actions and inactions will in combination shape the growth, future and temperament of your daughter. Talk about Pressure!
Not only do we need to watch how we behave in front of her but also really speak in a tone and vocab, which shows them or help them understand the nuances of communication and social setting. She listens to every word I speak and randomly picks a word and starts repeating after me. This then follows up with me explaining her the meaning and rectifying the pronunciation. However, in some cases I let the cute version stay and instead start imitating her dialect!
She is growing up so fast and no matter how many pics and videos I try to make, I am unable to freeze the time and the moment. I just wish there was a way that I can transcend time and enjoy the moment years from now in all its freshness. I am almost reminded of the movie Interstellar, where the main protagonist is able to reach out to her daughter from future when she was young through the layers of time, to warn her of the perils to come. I wish I had the powers to do something similar by reaching out to my daughter back in time to her younger version a decade or so from now. Talk about Sci-fiction!
Every new day when I see her, I give her a new love name. These names are a strange concoction of the emotions and feelings I feel every time I lay my eyes on her. Then during the next few days when I call her those names, she responds in magical expression, which in itself is a mixture of love, shyness and mischief.
Finally, I pray to God to give me the focus and resolve to be the best father humanly possible to this precious Gift bestowed upon me.
Mansi Zaveri
Kanishka Pariani
KSP Team
bahar dutt
