Chapter 2- My Favourite Memory

Often times, in today’s society, we associate memorable experiences with the amount spent to

create that memory…How much money did you spend on your family’s trip to? How much

money did you spend on your kid’s first car? How much money did you spend on the gifts you

bought for your children? I have seen and heard many parents wonder if it was enough. Did they

spend enough? Did they do enough to create positive and happy memories for their kids? Is it

ever enough? Will it ever be enough? My own experiences have taught me that I never cared

about how much money my dad spent on me. What I cared the most about how much time

I spend with them and gave them the respect they deserve.

It didn't happen in a day but over dozens of them. They were mostly spread over my

teenage years, at that time when I thought I had pretty much nothing in common with my dad

even as he drove me to and from soccer games every weekend. Spending so much time in the

car together, control over the radio became a constant battle. Finally, my dad came up with a

rule: I got to play one song then he got to play one song. I got another one, then he got one.

The result was that our rides ended up sounding something like this: ‘Kabhi Kabhi dil mein

khayal aata hai; Aafreen Tera Chehra; Mere samne wali khidki; Amplifier’ and many other.

It didn't take me long to figure out I had been duped. Turns out his classic songs

lasted much longer than my songs, and I rarely get more than two picks each ride. The more

my dads' songs dragged on, the harder he laughed at my disdain. Somehow I always ended up

laughing, too. We had more in common than I had realized. We still do. Today, those

ridiculously long songs are some of my favourites.

I think many people have some kind of memory with their father were they experience various

emotions at the same time and when we think about it a smile comes to our face. These memories

are the only things which one will cherish in life. “The best time with my father had nothing to do

with money .”

-Srivastav

When a father does something for his son, the son laughs, when a son does something for his father, the father cries.. out of Joy.