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A dinner for daddy cool

Dads want nothing but the best from their children, finds SERISH NANISETTI

PHOTO: SAMPATH KUMAR. G.P

THE COMPLETE MAN! The new age father takes on dual responsibilities but also has great expectations

The father is a manager, a chef, a diaper changer and a pillow. That's all the jazz floating about the new age father, but beneath it all he is more expectant than the mother. In the changing society, fathers who are logged into the real world want their children to be gifted or to be rather the gifting kind. As the cliché goes: It is not the gift but the idea that counts.

Ramana and his son Ravi are gizmo freaks. Right from the Bose speaker dock, i-Pod and a host of other electronic goods stacked at the right places in the house, the father has everything debated, wangled and gifted by his son who is based in Ohio, U.S.

Now, the father is expecting a couriered surprise: "I am one lucky father. Whatever I see and expect my son manages to divine when he is chatting with us on Skype and gift it to me. Father's day is really special; beside the gift the scrawled words of love mean a lot to me," says Ramana, who lives in Ramanthapur.

The trend is not limited to the over 50s folks with daughters and sons who are in the earning groove but also to fathers who have children as young as 12 and 14. Meet Rameshwar, an IT pro from Intelligroup who has a son studying in class VII. "I have started looking forward to the day as my 12-year-old Varun starts following me attentively even when I am reading the newspaper. There is endless conversation about what is happening in the world, the newest books and a host of other things. But the gift happens to be something he can buy out of his pocket money savings," says Rameshwar. "This year I am sure it is going to be a football which he can play with," he says with a roar of laughter.

But the trend is not all encompassing as can be seen from the near absence of greeting cards for wishing fathers. Equally obvious is the missing marketing hype that swirls around other celebratory days.

For those who are hooked on to it, the material things are part of the game but a lot of fathers want long-term gifts, like good behaviour, obedience, studies and archaically respect for elders. For Sambasiva Rao wants a gift that is as precious.

"I want a gift from my son that only he can give me. It cannot be bought. I want him to get the top rank in engineering entrance. Anything short of that will not do," he says about his son Ravi.

On his part, Ravi has booked a table for three at one of the niche vegetarian hotels in town, "The other things take time," he says nonchalantly.

How come?

Like everything material and celebratory, the origins of Father's Day to honour fathers can be traced to the U.S.

On the third Sunday in June, fathers are given presents, treated to dinner or made to feel special.

The origin of Father's Day is not clear; while some trace it to a West Virginia church service in 1908 others trace it to Washington.

But the celebration got its first real promoter in a certain Mrs. Bruce John Dodd of Washington. The idea came to her mind while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909.

Here's wishing you a Happy Father's Day.

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