It took 30 years to understand a contestant.....

A glamorous trophy was shining in a bookcase in a living room and a father’s sparkling eyes were fixed on it out of sheer appreciation. It was his daughter’s first success. His daughter, a spring of clear water, has now turned into a cascading river that keeps the world alive. Truly, his daughter was now his life. And he felt proud to be a daughter’s father and not a son’s.

Mr. Shankar  was that day the most contented father. He inwardly thanked his wife for giving him such a smiling beautiful flower who calls and orders, “DADY, I want this. And I won’t talk if…….”

Thinking about his daughter, who now studies in a distant land, he looked out of the window and saw the golden rays of the afternoon sun. He imagined a sun-shine-like bright future for his daughter. And he prayed all the happiness of world for her. And felt that perhaps a father’s heart was most tender…..

Now, he remembered an incident which dated 30 years back………

He was a student in a college. He had all the natural qualities of a leader but he loved to stay aloof from student-politics. But one incident changed his college-life. A girl, who was well-to-do and was from an English Medium School background, eclipsed all boy-students. The existence of boys dimmed before her charisma and that day he had thought that he should accept the challenge as a boy. Soon it was found that the girl was contesting for the post of General Secretary with him……..

The election-battle saw the fiercest ever campaign and the toughest ever competition. And a feather was added to his cap. The girl lost the battle. After the declaration of election result he had offered some sweets to that girl but she did not take the sweets with the words, “You won in the election for that I have no pains but I won’t take sweets from you because my defeat has given a lot of pain to my father. And all this shit happened because of you.” That day, he had thought that because of the hang-over of defeat that girl was babbling the name of his father.

But…..but…..but…..

Today he understood what a daughter means to a father and a father to a daughter. It took 30 years to understand the reason why that girl had not taken sweets that day.