Every Year

(Day 17/18 of 112)

It’s my dad’s birthday today. And like every year, this year too we wondered what to get him. He isn’t the partying kind or we would have thrown him a huge surprise party. Nor is he the accessories type of person for whom you can pick up some trinket. Dad is also not part of that category of men who periodically change their wallets, and so he’s happiest with his 8 yr old wallet falling apart at the seams. A tie maybe? Nah. He already has more than he cares to own (or wear). A genuine leather briefcase? My dad prefers carrying his papers in his hand/plastic bag (much to the frustration of all us) because he doesn’t want to ruin all the leather bags he owns (its raining beta, the leather will spoil). A watch? He doesn’t wear one. An expensive, limited edition pen? Considering how careless he is with his pens, he seems fit for those 10 rupee ball points. A new phone? He just bought one. A laptop? There are already 3 at home (not counting the desktop).

So you can imagine how nuts we went trying to figure out something as simple (or complicated) as a birthday present. Finally after going through the above process of elimination, we reached a conclusion – it was either a large bowl full of papaya (something he can live on and eat every single day- and does) or it was birthday safety net we used every single year when we ran out of ideas.

Needless to say we decided on the safety net – Shirts. A white formal shirt and an office shirt. Maybe a party shirt, which for dad would be the white shirt in another colour. No confusion here. We knew the size, we knew the brand.

And like always, this year too when we gave dad his gift, he broke out into a delighted smile. A smile of pure pleasure and happiness. A smile that told us that this was the present he wanted.

These are what family traditions are made of. These things you do every year.