My dad, the dude

I woke up and walked a million miles todayIrsquove been looking up and down for youAll this time it still feels just like yesterdayThat I walked a million miles with youThink Irsquom gettinrsquo over itTherersquos no gettinrsquo over itThere are times that I need someoneThere are times I feel like no oneSometimes I just donrsquot know what to doThere are days I canrsquot rememberThere are days that last forevermdash Under You Foo FightersHe lay in a teak wood casket he seemed peaceful he seemed completehellip a life well lived The people filed by his corpse in the coffin The mourners they came and went paying homage the end of an eraThe accolades the outpourings for the ldquolegendrdquoHe had passed quickly peacefully hopefully with minimum painmdashwe never really know the pain a person may feel we can only hope that those who ldquogo quicklyrdquo go painlesslyThose eyes now firmly shut I sensed still twinkled a mind still furiously at workhellip a life cut short even at 92 He whispered to memdashldquoRahul where are all my advertising friendshellip all I can see are mostly your buddiesrdquo he saidldquoNot sure pophellip some of them Alyque Gerson Subhash Kersey all gonemdashthey donrsquot make them like you guys anymorerdquoldquoHmmmmmhellip good pointrdquoldquoAny last words of wisdomrdquo I asked ldquoYou never listened to any of my pearls when I was alivehellip so why nowrdquo he frownedldquoI guess Irsquom older now sons have an ego problem listening to dads when wersquore youngerhellip plus if I donrsquot imbibe now then whenrdquoldquoOkay lemme refresh my head with something useful to tell youmdashThe Amul topicals keep them funny relevant remember yoursquore only as good as your last one Read Art Buchwald voraciously hersquos still the funniest writer ever donrsquot rest on your laurelshellip they are temporary Donrsquot sweat the small stuff live life in your own terms Ignore the imitators the pretendersmdashsuccess has many authorsrdquoHe paused I looked at him then at my motherSylvie daCunha the original Mad Manhellip Mazagon boy a 400metre sprinter Bombay University champ Economics major at St Xavierrsquos Catholic boy falls in love with Gujarati girl in the 1950smdashthe decision to go his own way never to follow the herd Entertainment in his DNA the inability to fathom how a son can listen to Deep Purple and other noisy metal bands what are they screamingmdashNat King Cole Sinatra Ellamdashthose are singers those are lyricsldquoWas I a good Dadrdquo he asked suddenlyldquoHmmm 710 Irsquod sayhellip you were always there when I most needed youmdashduring my ICSE Boards in 1978 when I was up all night trying to cram for Physics and Chemistry you came by at 4 am I was sleepdeprived panicked certain I would lsquoplugrsquo the exams and you said to relax lsquoJust get through your boards yoursquore pretty certain what you want to do with your lifersquordquoldquoAnd there was this other time I was 17 it was a school athletics finalhellip you rememberrdquoldquoYeah idiot that you were you decided to train the evening beforerdquoldquoAnd I fell I was wearing spikes for the first time they got entangled in the mud and I toppled overrdquoldquoYou injured yourself badlyhelliprdquoldquoI had the 100s 200s the 4 X 100 relay the next dayrdquoldquoI stayed awake the whole night with yourdquoldquoThat you did pop and I won everythingrdquoWe paused Smiling at this memoryldquoPretty good turn out to see me off gotta say now I see many of my friendsrdquoWe were now in the hearse bumping along to the crematoriumldquoTheyrsquore all saying lsquoyoursquore in a better place nowrsquo are yourdquo I askedldquoDonrsquot knowhellip Irsquom not there yetrdquoldquoThink I was a good sonrdquoldquoYes thankfully you didnrsquot do drugsrdquoI laughed out loudldquoOkay listen gotta go yoursquoll look after your mother shersquoll need you most now that Irsquom not thererdquo he said hurriedlyldquoYeah your bride of 63 years the love of your life since she was 15 and you 18 I will donrsquot worryrdquoldquoOh by the way one last thinghelliprdquoldquoTell me DadrdquoldquoAlways keep it witty AlwaysrdquoRahul daCunha is an adman theatre directorplaywright photographer and traveller Reach him at rahuldacunhamiddaycom