Dear Father.

I recently learnt from my mistakes, that everything in the world is temporary and short-lived, except the love of your family and your upbringing that they inculcate in you. It’s a wise lesson I learnt at the age of 17, but it has been the foundation of your value system from your early childhood.

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While I run behind the allure of having “friends”, you gave that up without a second thought, to let your life revolve around the needs and wants and desires of your family. I do not know how you do it every single day, time and again, living the sacrifice and working yourself to the point where your body just aches and your mind craves peace and rest.

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I can only try to be like you one day, looking up to you and staring at the love and pain you carry in your eyes. While I don’t acknowledge you enough, I truly believe that nobody can compare to you, not even your father. You, like the meaning behind your name, Pankaj, are the kind of person who blossoms and grows and prospers, even through the darkest of times and most desperate of situations.

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You are the epitome of the ideal father, the ideal man, the ideal human being.

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I admire you.

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I respect you.

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I aspire to be you.