(Rajesh K. Jha)
Dear Tushit,
I am so very delighted to see you turning 10. It’s an important milestone in your life when you have to use two digits to write your age. I pray and wish that one day you may require three digits for the same but that will require a lot of football and outdoor games, exercise and physical activity but above all a happy and satisfied mind and a heart full of love and compassion.
I want to reveal to you a secret on this day. When I see you setting up your new electronic gadget Nintendo ( is this the correct spelling?) gifted by Bade papa after your secret discussions with him over several weeks, I also feel delighted, which you may not even notice because I am an expert in hiding my feelings. In fact most of your elders are. Try looking at Mummy or Maa when they are sweating in the kitchen preparing your favourite dish. They may appear angry sometimes, even irritated, when you don’t eat the items prepared by them but actually they are so very happy to prepare the food for you and everyone else in the family. They are just experts in hiding their emotions and feelings. So, now that you are 10, I wish you to sometimes try to understand those hidden secrets of life- love behind the anger, pain behind the happiness and sacrifice behind the achievement. I don’t want you to be bored with big words but I am sure soon you will find these words also enjoyable as you turn 11..12…13…
I wish you to enjoy your gadgets, of course within the time limit you have yourself agreed upon. But while playing I also wish you to wonder and explore the technology, software and hardware that has given so much delight to children (and sometimes to grown ups too) all over the world. Maybe one day you can come up with a device, a game which is even more enjoyable? Maybe you are able to create a game which all children can play, even if they are poor and can’t afford to buy an expensive device? After all, your teacher at AISD in Dhaka, Ms Ula thought that you are very good at making engineering designs and models.
But I leave it to you whether you like to become a footballer or an engineer or a painter or a hiker or whatever you want. I am only interested in seeing you explore your interest with your full capacity and ability. Because only when you give your best, you get your best. Remember, we all have an immense source of capabilities hidden inside us. But it can come out only with dedication and effort. So, as you turn 10, you need to focus and channelise your energy into developing your skills, attaining new knowledge and becoming a wise man.
On your 10th birthday, I wish you enjoy many hours of Nintendo as well as Yuval Noah Harari exploring and understanding the secrets of the way humans have evolved over thousands of years and still, hopefully, evolving. Learn the techniques of football from great players, even Messi whom you don’t like because one can also learn from people whom they don’t like. Wonder, sometimes alone or with your friends looking at a Van Gogh or Matisse or Picasso or M F Hussain painting or enjoy the beauty of the snowclad barren mountains in Ladakh or elsewhere. Sometimes it is good to be sad or angry, feel the pain, even cry, on reading about the train accident a few days back in which so many people lost their lives or the war in Gaza where thousands of people have been killed including children.
Maybe now that you are 10, you can sometimes go into the kitchen, help Maa and Mummy in their sweating delight by doing some work. Take my word, you will enjoy your food much more after you have helped your mummy or Maa with something like washing the plate or helping them in some way. Maybe you sometimes ask Bade papa what new books he has ordered or is currently reading? Why he loves to listen to Iqbal Bano’s Ghazals or quaint Ragas sung by Kumar Gandharva where words like ‘ Hum Dekhenge..’ or ‘Ud Jayega Hans Akela’ keep repeating? Whether he has taken his medicines on time or not?
But before I end my happy birthday card, one very important thing I want you to remember. You have to teach me how to play Nintendo as there is nothing more beautiful and happier for me than to play with you and keep recharging my love for you like everyone in the family – Daddu, Dida, Lal babu, Bade papa, Tashu didi, Maa, Buchchi didi, Kavita didi, Mamta, …..
Cheers.
Yours,
Papa
Published in Raag Delhi (25 June 2026)- https://www.raagdelhi.com/a-fathers-letter-to-his-10-year-old-son-by-rajesh-jha/
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