Dear Dad,

Thank you!

Thank you for paying 1/4^th of your income for my elementary school fee when you had a wife and 3 more kids to feed, educate and shelter. I don’t know how you did it? I guess I was too young to know.

Thank you for buying us new clothes for Dashain and wearing that same polo shirt you had been wearing for a couple of years. I still remember how you looked that Dashain. I guess I was too busy to show the new dress to my friends and relatives that I never asked you if you liked to wear that faded shirt.

Thank you for bringing that used HERO bicycle that I had wished for my 11^th birthday. I guess I was in such a hurry to ride on it, that I didn’t even bother to ask you how many hours of overtime you had to work to pay for it.

Thank you for not leaving me alone for a single moment for a whole week when I was admitted to the hospital to cure my typhoid. Did anyone ask you if you were ever tired/sleepless? I didn’t.

Thank you for not traveling to see your sick dad so that you could save up the expenses for that first TV we wanted in our living room. Did you get to see your dad in his final days? I guess not, you were too broke to even call him.

Thank you for smiling and hugging me when I said, “I hate you” for not buying me an 80 cc bajaj scooter when all of my friends were riding on Hero Honda Splendor. Were you really smiling? I guess not. Then tell me why did you go to your room and sob? I saw you dad.

Thank you for sending me off to Kathmandu University for my intermediate studies, when I could’ve joined Tribhuvan University with fewer expenses. Do you have enough funds on your pension account now? I guess I wouldn’t know unless you tell me dad.

Thank you for not letting us know about your everlasting back pain so that you didn’t have to go to the doctor. Does it still hurt? I guess so, because the only time I know you went to the hospital was when I was admitted for typhoid.

Thank you for those tears you shed when you found out I passed my intermediate exam in first division. Are you still proud of me? I guess all parents are proud of their kids.

Thank you for sending me abroad for my higher education even though I knew you couldn’t afford it. Did you pay off your debt yet? I guess not. You are retired and you don’t have any pension fund left for your so called golden (?) days.

Finally, thank you for thanking me for my achievement. Let me ask you dad, do you think it’s worth devoting your past, present and future for your kids? I guess I won’t know unless I have my own kid(s).