Few years ago, I wrote about the things my mom taught me, so that got me thinking to the things my dad taught me. It only took me four years to finish this post and if I were to summarize the five most important things I learnt through the endless lectures he has given me, here they are:
1) Smile: He always has a smile on his face and has always taught me to smile. His lecture would start with the essence of a smile, which would further carry on to how important it is to be happy inside and out. So along with the gesture of smiling, the importance of inner happiness was learnt which also further went on to how it also results in self-confidence. So there, a very long lecture... with a smile!
2) Posture: Growing up, I used to slouch and started developing a hunched back. I cannot believe how many times he had corrected it, sometimes every 10 min, he would remind me to stand/ sit straight. It was definitely extremely irritating to have a tape-recorder dad who would say 'straight' indefinitely till I corrected my posture, but I am definitely thankful now. I probably still slouch sometimes, and his voice is automatically placed in my head.
3) History: While mom taught math and science, dad always taught history, civilizations, empires, wars. And he taught it with so much passion, often his passion of history/ story-telling would put me to sleep, but he did make it quite interesting! And he was really multi-tasking while teaching history in multiple ways.
a) He helped build my essay writing and presentation skills - cause he used to read the history lesson and then narrate it like an interesting story for me and also in the end was a summarized bullet presentation of the history lesson.
b) It was daily father-daughter bonding time
c) It was story telling time
d) It would also put me to sleep - so bed time routine included.
e) And somewhere in between I learnt a bit about Harappa and Mohenjo-daro civilizations
4) Music: Mom's way of teaching math was very strict, and her way to teaching science was more interesting and experiment based. Dad's way of teaching science was boring, but he did make math more more fun as he used to encourage me to listen to music to concentrate better. Still remember when one Diwali, we went and bought a huge stereo system and bought dozen of cassettes to listen to. He introduced me to Usha Uthup, old hindi melodies and also some random french music with a good beat.
5) Having Goals: One important life lesson he always emphasized on is having goals in life. Always working towards a goal to keep life interesting. And once the goal is achieved, make a new one and work towards the new goal.
I think I can go on writing about all the things he teaches me and my brother daily with his lectures and also real- life examples like staying motivated, career advice, financial advice, cooking lessons, continued education, balanced diet, exercise, lessons on happiness, etc etc etc. I think to sum it, I learn something new from him everyday. :-)
Talking about dads, I also have a very supportive father-in-law and through him I have learnt the life of simplicity and contentment, the power of Now, the art of small talk and short and precise communication skills. He also sends us periodic emails that cheer up our day. Sometimes the emails are filled with words of wisdom, thoughts for the day, Harvard Business Review articles, a reminder of the beautiful world we live in with pictures, and sometimes just really funny jokes!
Happy Father's day to both dads and thank you for teaching me so many important things in life! :)
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