To dad, with love

Some super heroes don’t have capes; they are called ‘fathers’. Sunday is father’s day, the day when you celebrate the man who made you. You may love your old, super-cool dad, but there is certainly a doubt on the observance of the day. The day is half as popular as the mother’s day.

Every year, we observe a number of such days to honour mothers, daughters, siblings and grandparents but barely do we consider and recognise the contribution fathers and fatherly figures make to our lives. Albeit the exact origin is not known, it is rumoured that around 4,000 years ago Elmesu, a young boy carved a message on a clay palette and wished his Babylonian father good health and a long life and this marked an initiation to the celebration of the day. 

The widely accepted story remains of Sonora Dodd, from Washington, who came up with the idea to commemorate fatherhood after hearing a Mother’s day speech in 1910. There after the day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June, birth month of Dodd’s father.

Apparently, the concept of father’s day is hardly a decade old in India and is not recognised in a large extent as much as mother’s day. It is not about acknowledging their efforts just on a particular day, but the point is the comparative difference in popularity and celebration of the two days as that shows the two individuals are at different pedestal for children.

When asked why mother’s day is more famous than father’s day, Anam, a 19 year girl said, “It’s psychological; children are likely to be close with the figure (mother) who’s more supportive and active throughout their lives. Whereas my father was surprised, when I went up to him to get my tenth board form signed. He never had an idea in which class I studied.” It’s true that fathers do not express their emotions and feeling whereas mothers are more considerate.

“It was my teacher who reminded me about mother’s day and insisted us to make a card. But now during the vacations no one told me regarding father’s day”, said a little boy who promised to make a card for his father, on coming to know about Sunday being  father’s day. It’s happy to note that mothers, the full-time caretakers are given appreciation and acknowledgement for the love they shower, but fathers too deserve the same.

 They have an equal contribution to our achievements and are happy albeit they look not interested; they are just fatigued by the day’s work. “The day my children start working hard and achieve great  heights, that day will be father’s day for me, this is the only gift I wish for,” said S.K. Anand, Vice President at a FMCG.