Lessons from a self proclaimed old madman

Yesterday my daughter Freia sent me a mail saying she had written a blog about me.

I read it. And was touched. Touched by the article. And whilst I feel that a lot of it was what I like to call "embellishments", it was nevertheless touching.

We all love to hear people say nice things about us. And when someone we love and respect says it, we love it even more. And when that someone happens to be your Child, your head swells with pride.

And instead of rambling, let me reproduce the article.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Lessons from a self proclaimed old madman.

Anyone who knows me knows what an impact my dad has on my life. He's more than a parent and a friend for me, he's a role model and a guide, he's a partner in crime and my worst critic. But screw all this sentiness, if you've seen this you know that we're not any ordinary father - daughter combo, no. We're WAAAAAY cooler than that yo.

There are a million things I've learnt from my dad in the last 17 years, and I'm going to share just some of them with you.

1. Ek baar jo maine commitment kar di toh main apne aap ki bhi nahi sunta.

No, seriously. My Dad is the personification of commitment. As far as possible he is always on schedule, always does what he days and tries to meet every possible promise he makes.

Whenever we say "DADDDY BUT YOU SAID YOU'LL DO THIS", he stumps us with a "When have I ever said anything and not done it?"

No, he's not exaggerating.  He really is that cool.

Simple example: look at his blog. He decided in 2010 he would blog every week and so he did. 52 posts in 2010, 52 in 2011. This is the first time he's been behind schedule (Thanks a lot, Dad -__-)

2. It's always worth a try

I cant stress enough how true this is. So many times in my 17 short years, have I been able to sneak my way into (or out of) something seemingly impossible. A workshop that was full. Adding a song on a preplanned annual day, 24 hours before it. All of these things are all because of my dad. Getting cake and champagne delivered at 12 to my Grandparents at the Taj, even though I wasn't there. He always says "Try karne mein kya jaata hai". It can do wonderful things.

3.Work is fun. Work is worship.

Everyone but me  some people think my dad is a workaholic. But he's shown me time and again, that if you do what you enjoy and you enjoy what you do, you will never be tired. Like my dad! He works and works and works but for him, it's no big deal because that's what he does for fun. And for work! How cool is that?

4. No risk, No reward
This is something he taught me by example. He has taken so many risks, as a serial entrepreneur and whatnot. Most recently he dropped everything here and moved to the US. Sure, he had a job and everything but there was still a lot of risk involved. And if you don't take risks you wont be rewarded

5. Ideas Matter

For someone who coined the term imaginnovate way before it was famous, it's pretty obvious that ideas matter. He's always taught me to ideate, think out of the box, and think big. 

I've learned these, and many more things from him, and if I sat down and wrote everything I learnt from him, I'd spend all my life doing it.  But he's taught me so much, and continues to teach me more things all the time.

So thanks Pa, you've taught me more than you can imagine! :)

Pa: Feel free to follow this up with a "Lessons learned from my favourite eldest daughter"

You should check out her blog too:
http://thatgirlwhowrites.blogspot.in/2012/10/lessons-from-self-proclaimed-old-madman.html

p.s.: And Surprise, Surprise, next weeks blog will be "Lessons learned from my favorite eldest daughter"