Every Sunday my father takes a full-day off from work.
Last night Mom called me around 8 pm for usual chat. When I asked her about Papa’s whereabouts, she said he had gone to gurudwara. Fine.
Half an hour after Mom and I hung up, I called up Papa.
“What is that noise?” I asked him.
It was a noise in the distance, so I couldn’t really make it. “Are you still at the gurudwara? If so, we can talk later.” I added
“No I was watching TV,” he replied nonchalantly. That made me feel really bad. Not seen. That he is okay sitting around and watching TV but forgets to call me despite it is my bed time, over and over and over again.
And for a change, I tried to express my feelings instead of putting them under a rug.
“You were free whole day, and still when you get back home, you want to turn on TV and NOT call your daughter. As your daughter I can expect at least this much from you, right?”
Fast forward to this morning, he was the one who called me up instead of Mom who does that daily. And they both were very appreciative of the fact that I brought Papa to awareness. (Meanwhile I was almost thinking of apologising to him for last night, ever since I woke up this morning.)
So girls and boys, for a change, try communicating your feelings to your parents. It may or may not get you the response you are looking for, but suppressing is certainly not getting you the response you are looking for.
