For Divya who has never seen her biological parents and spent her childhood with many girls in an NGO, Father’s day is about spending time with her mentor father and making it special for him. Like every girl in her home, she prepares a gift with all the love for her uncle. “I was in ninth standard when I met Mr. Sharma. He has always encouraged me. He has always been there to support me, when I have shared my dreams. I wanted to be a doctor but then my interests shifted towards arts and he still supported me when I got through National Institute of Fashion Technology. I am planning to write him a letter for this father’s day. I want to thank him for all his support,” she says.
Deepak Sharma a father mentor to a girl’s home, under Udayan Care shares his experience about how his girls make the day special for him. “I have been associated with the NGO for over nine years now and it was my dream to work for the society and in 2013 I got the opportunity to be a mentor father to one of the homes. Last year one of my daughters wrote me a beautiful letter on father’s day and when I read it I had tears in my eyes. I always tell my girls that I am not doing any favour to them but they are the ones who make me feel like the luckiest father in the world. I cannot define how much happiness they have given me.” Divya is in the final year at NIFT Mumbai.
Another girl, Meena said, “I have known uncle since past five years and he is more than a father figure to me. He joined our home five years back and I had just finished my schooling then and he was always there to guide me on my career. From filling forms to dropping me to my college which was out of Delhi, he has been there.” When asked about how she is going to celebrate father’s day with him she said, “I am going to get all his photographs, photos of his marriage and his younger days and make a collage for him.” When asked about her favourite memory she said, “Every day is special with him. Now that I am working, I wake up to his good morning messages every day. It’s like he is always there. I remember when I was having a tough time in college as people would ask me about my biological family, he used to call my warden saying he was my father.”
Father’s day was declared as the third Sunday of the month June as a permanent holiday in the year 1972 by the US government to complement fathers and male parenting. Although, it is not an official holiday in India, Father’s day is still celebrated with a lot of excitement mostly in the metro cities like Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and many more, with children gifting their father’s cards, gadgets and books.
There is also one more couple, running a boy’s home under the NGO Udayan Care.
Ranjan Ghosh the mentor father who has been associated since 2004, says,“There are very few homes, mentored by couples and I am very lucky to be one. Living with my boys gives me the greatest satisfaction. My elder son is also aligned with me now and we all live like a big happy family.
Whenever there’s Father’s day or it’s my birthday my children throw a little party for me, they decorate our home and bring cake and make gifts for me. It really gives me joy.”
