The hero of my life – my father!

BE HEALTHY WEALTHY AND FINANCIALLY FREE! – 16th March 2021

I have had amazing heroes in my life mentoring me and who has shaped my life but the best hero of my life is my father who has sowed the seeds of blooming me into a successful leader and leading a life of example. My Dad grew up in Mumbai to be a humble successful businessman. He worked with great love and compassion but it was never for applause rather it was helpfulness towards many people. He was a great encourager. He always helped the people most in need.

Life is really very short and nothing matters more than how you treat people who are in need. When I was growing up, I remember my father always asking the Lord to bless his children with a .good sense of being and ask for privileged intellect while praying and worshipping Him. The best example he gave us in his life is one of being a go-getter. He showed us by example to do whatever we want to achieve by trying it at least once, and if done to help the needy it has to bear fruits no matter what. He showed us living by example waking up early morning at 5 am, being a true leader, treating everyone as “We” and not just “Me.” He taught us that it’s not about selfishness about what you can get but what you can give to the world. Life is too short and we must never forget the shortness of life. One of the biggest traps today is we postpone “living” and we forget about what is most important. We should bring into sharp focus the things that will be most important on the last hour of our last day. The high priorities of the stressful digital world will truly matter when we are at our very end. We should be monomaniacally focused on the truth, keeping front and center what we want to stand for, how we want to be remembered, shifting from chasing success to embracing significance.  Sometimes I become busy, very busy, and get caught up in this world of daily activities. But the key thing is “to always want to be coming back to what is most important.”

I am what I am today “a doctor” because someone someday had attracted this vision for their life – my father. He was the one who could see the talent in me and motivated me to give my best always to achieve success. He would gladly accept and take the insulin injections I administered to him when I was a teenager; perhaps he visualized me to be his doctor that time.

A go-getter and all positive emotions. He was a positive person and believed that if you can think of an idea, there must be a way to achieve it. He got us admission into the best of school, a convent for me and provided us with all possible support and tuition to smoothen our path of knowledge and education. Always positive that our ignorance would one day turn into a blissful responsibility.

Silent and strict yet tender and compassionate.  Strict was he with our scores but his silence would say it all. I would fear to let him down and would always work hard towards impressing him. I remember once when I scored a full 25/25 in Maths, he said you should present your paper in such a way that the professor should feel like giving you some more grace marks.  Such were his ideas.  Also a slight tangible sense of humor. He would always be compassionate to shower the love and compassion with small things such as pocket money, dresses, sandals, etcetera and see to that we were always contented in life. An incidence I must mention here – we had a financial crunch during my brother’s wedding due to some familial issues and I was wondering what to wear at my bro’s wedding when just a week before the wedding he landed up with a beautiful silk maroon dress and high-heeled sandals for me. I danced my way to my bro’s wedding with this pretty outfit full of joy. It went unsaid, I felt blessed. He understood all unsaid and I could feel his tenderness and love.

Great culture and pious personality. A very humble person with great obligations and duties of reverence for God that he had changed the lives of many helping them find their homes, establishing factories, and earning their livelihood during his journey of success. Religious devotion or virtue towards Lord Tirupathi Balaji, not a single day would go without his prayers. There are these fond memories of the lovely pilgrimage journey of Tirupathi Darshanam in South India via Rani Gunta station. We were almost about 35 people including family friends and near and dear ones.  He would then come back with “ladoos” of Prasadanam and distribute amongst his factory staff, neighbors, and others.

During the journey, I would admire him taking bath at the railway station waiting room, carrying all his incense agarbattis sticks and diyas, and perform rituals to Lord Tirupathi on the seats of the coaches. Such was his devotion.

Strong and respectful. Taking all the responsibilities of his own younger brothers & sisters and family at a very young age, he empowered each one to overcome challenges and obstacles in life gracefully. He used to eat only one meal a day during his years of struggle just to ensure he raised his siblings with education and gave them a happy married life. Yet he never wanted anything in return. He set an example to forget and forgive his brother who betrayed him with all types of litigations.  I heard my mom say the three brothers would eat from one plate, and there I was a teenager preparing the list of all that the officers were going to take or seal during the raid planned by the same brother. He embraced and faced all very gracefully standing as a strong pillar and we felt like respecting him more and more.

A great soul to be remembered.  My father was a great soul and we all know one doesn’t have a chance to see what difference a father makes in the lives of their children until years later. Today, my success credits to all the everyday investments that he has made in his daughter’s life that connected and influenced me all my life and motivated me. I cherish his fond memories of patting my back and snuggling me to sleep, he praying and asking Lord to bless us with good sense always. I remember him waking up early morning every day to fare goodbye to school, to be there for me whenever required, I remember every outstation tours with him, every festival we celebrated. I remember he remained calm and normal when I became a woman, his words of wisdom and motivation to never give up in life, his funny comments teasing us. He distributed and donated blankets in winter, helped all those in need, and lived life gracefully and with discipline. The list is endless. He gave us great value and great inspiration, great encouragement, and even love. He bid us goodbye on a good note, a good day of Ekadashi only to wear a new body for his soul to continue helping others. He is a great soul to be remembered and I am sure wherever his soul is, he is at peace and rejoices that all his children and family are bonded together and are successful. He sees me as a true doctor healing people around and am sure his soul today must be feeling proud.

The biggest lesson my Dad taught me and set an example is about always being helpful, and that is my great wish for you too. I thank you for reading this and taking so much time for this masterpiece.

#Love Respect & Care

Dr. Kalpana Kotecha