A Daughter Remembers : Lipika’s Letter.

Lipika: As a child I was so possessive of not just him but of his songs too and for some reason I considered the song “Mila hain kisika jhumka” from the film Parakh as my own…I remember howling when I heard this song playing in our neighbour’s house because how could my Bapi’s song be playing in their house…sacrilege indeed!

…… Bapi was for me just Bapi and I was Baby being the youngest of us three….my kind and loving father who made me laugh…he never ever came home empty handed…dolls, dresses (always three co-ordinated for the three of us) Toblerone chocolates and of course books….we had our own mini library with the entire Noddy series among others…but what we enjoyed the most was listening to his stories.. his childhood memories…his father.. growing up in Assam…and of course his made up scary ghost stories! In fact even all our friends waited eagerly for these story sessions.

He introduced us not just to reading but also to films…what an experience that was.. driving to Regal or Eros cinema …eating an icecream cone and popcorn in the interval…discussing the film on the drive back home…I clearly remember watching Hatari , Bornfree, My Fair Lady, Sound of Music the Nutty Professor among so many others… Hindi films were taboo of course and thankfully none of us ever developed a taste for them.

So so many memories …a lifetime of experiences…his music sittings with his faithful assistant Kanu kaka (Kanu Ghosh)…his afternoon siesta listening to Western classical music on the radio… the mess in the kitchen as he cooked his fabulous chicken curry or Yakhni pulao while we played the role of sous-chef.. ..and not to forget the impromptu music sessions where we all sang along especially when his friends like Basuda (Basu Bhattacharya) would drop in and request him to sing his all time favourites.
In spite of him not being a religious person he participated wholeheartedly in our wedding ceremonies and even fasted to be able to perform the Kanyaadaan…. I’m lucky he met my daughter Aurina.. he loved her voice and insisted it sounded like a pakhi(bird) ….in fact all our children loved him and lovingly called him Bapi Dadu… we miss you Bapi..

Tulika: Yes, I remember Bapi had taken us to see the Nutty Professor.. in that movie the professor could make his car fly up into the sky….and for some reason i was very frightened and Bapi used to tease me and say that now he was about to make our car fly!! Sounds so silly now but that really petrified me. .It was always Bapi who used to buy us clothes for pujo or our birthdays.. we would go to choose our birthday cake with him from Mac Ronnells …..he spoiled us silly!

We loved him and we used to be very excited when he used to come home in the evenings. He would take take us out to the beach or shopping or a movie. Of course i remember his ghost stories.. just when he thought we were all frightened enough, his ghost would become a good ghost or a harmless one.

I miss Bapi a lot…

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