Hi… Today am here to talk about a person who has been an inspiration to me in all these years. The person to whom I run to for any stupid or silly issue I can have in my life ;)…My FATHER, Mr Swethadri Ramanna a best friend to me and helpful to all. Some of you may know that My Father served India in the Indian Air force for 20 years. He was probably 19 years old when he joined the Air force, after which he had been posted to many cities some of which are Bareilley, Kanpur, Jorhat (Assam), Coimbatore etc.
One of the stories he told me and my sister was about how he managed to catch trains on Saturday evenings to come home and had to return the very next day to the Airforce base. He had even told me about a night when it was late and he had jumped across the house fences to wake his sisters up to open the door and eventually was caught by night beat men.
He was so adventurous that once he and his friend Mr. Keshavnath, decided to travel from Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh to Mysore, Karnataka on a bicycle. They took 19 days to complete the journey which was 2400 + kms… Oh my god. If I were in that place I probably would have given up in the first day itself.
Even though its been so many years after his retirement from the Airforce he and my mom have so much love and affection to all the friends and their families from Airforce. It is so fascinating to see and learn the bond they have between them and how much they care for each other. When a person is in Airforce, he or she would have to go to different places of posting away from family and home, the only fellowship that a person get is through friends. And that friendship lasts forever.
I quote them as AIR FORCE family because they truly are. They help each other so much. Like my dad’s friend who is in Belagavi, Karnataka helped me to get a signature for my scholarship. Another friend had twice gotten us the tickets for the Aero show that happened in Bangalore. And there was this time when my dad’s friend’s son had a proposal for marriage in Mysuru. Like every arranged marriage, both the parties interested in marriage meet each other, understand the family situation and cultures and decide to take the next decision. In this case my dad went to the girl’s house representing the family of his friend. That was how thick the bond was.
In 2019 when Pulwama was attacked, I remember asking my dad how he felt. He said that his heart weeps hearing such news. He had tears when he heard about a boy from Karnataka who was killed during the Ukraine and Russia war. He told me how hard it is to survive the war without food and water for weeks together.
Recently in the month of April we had been to Coimbatore. The place from where my dad retired from Air force in 2003. I could see how happy both my mom and dad felt when we were there. We even visited the house where dad, mom and my sister lived… Sudha Illam (sudha house), Sulur Air force Base, Coimbatore. The most exciting thing was whether Mrs. Sudha would recognize my mom and dad. And she did, she instantly could guess both of them, even after 20 years.
Everyday I feel so proud to be a daughter of this man. And I hope someday I can make him feel proud about me.
You know when people say memories last forever and nobody can buy them for you, that’s actually true. So make a lot of memories… that's it for today Seeya :).
