The father bids farewell to his son as he begins his new journey of higher studies abroad away from his family. The father gets teary eyed and wishes well to his child in his heart but never lets those words of pride and happiness out in front of his son. The son gets teary eyed while looking back at his family , his father wishing he said "I am proud of you son, you will do amazing..."
The unsaid words only began to grow and create a void in their relationship. The son called his father day and night only to hear instructions on praying everyday rather than an interest in his life. While the father prayed and wished well for his son , he never let those words out in front of his son out of fear that his son would stay away from him even after his studies. The frequency of calls began to reduce gradually and the father never called on his own; the "I miss you" text messages began to fall into that void and their relationship began a test of time. While the father began to think his son has changed, he has lost his culture; the son on the other hand began to wonder why his father had changed , the father who was his best friend had changed to someone he failed to recognize any longer.
Every vacation, the son went with a mission to fix things with his father, the son who seldom spoke his mind had now begun to speak his mind in the hopes of understanding his father better but to no good. His opinions and questions went unheard and turned into "You have changed and forgotten your culture." Gradually , the mission began to weaken as the son started observing his father was no superhero but only a human with his own flaws. He began seeing how his questioning of things around cultural and societal norms began annoying his father as there were no answers yet he was just told to follow to fit into this "culture". During his time of studying and finding his own path, he was suddenly told by his father to take interest in his father's business. He wondered "When did my father change so much , the father who once said you do whatever you want , become what you want to. When did he start creating my dream for me where my happiness may not lie."
The boy's diary opened the pain of his heart often undiscovered because of the smile on his face :
" It was just a while back when I used to run to my papa , to hide from my mom's scoldings and now he had become the one I run the farthest from.
It was just a while back when I called my papa the most and now my father's lack of interest in my life hurts me like a bullet to my chest.
It was just a while ago when I got my courage and confidence to create my own dream from my Papa and now he had become the one to push me into living his dream.
It was just a while ago when my papa used to adore me like an apple of his eyes and now he had suddenly become a father who was fearful of talking to me because of my questioning.
It was just a while ago when my papa who used to push me to pursue education and now had turned into someone questioning my return home to take over the family and business as the elder son is supposed to.
When did my papa turn from papa to just a father...
When did the norms of society and culture become my father's favorites over me.
When did the idol he prayed to, for his family take over his family and become the center of his universe. "
To be continued.....