I am 74 years old and I had a very nice Father's Day not in terms of receiving gifts but had very happy feeling and joy when I placed a phone call to Dar-Es-Salam,Tanzania to Mr Stephen Emmanuel who is going to be 87 years old on June 25th.
He was the boss and part owner of Kwalukonge Sisal Eastate near Mombo of my late father when he was working as an accountant and personal financial advisor of Mr Emmanuel until my father died in December 1959. I called him to wish him a happy Father's Day and in advance happy birthday.
Though he is still bachelor I considered him as my father as he was very close with my father and knew him more than we knew and they both developed a family type of relationship. After my father's death slowly we lost his touch due to lack of communication as we were in India for our education purpose. Than I went to America for higher study and moved to Canada upon getting immigration.
About 2 decades ago one of our relative who worked at his estate and settled down in England gave me Mr Emmanuel's phone number and than periodically I give him courtesy call to say Hello and ask about his health. Many times when I call he always tells me that Suresh, whenever I go to church I always pray and think of Mr Raojibhai due to his honesty and integrity of work with our family owned business.
On Father's Day when I called him he told me that "Your father not only helped us in developing Kwalukonge Sisal Estate in East Africa but also in south of Sahara which even Sarala (my older sister) does'nt know."
After a span of more than 57 years when an employer talks about his employee that is the most memorable and cherish moment of our life which cannot be measured in terms of monetary value and that too on Father's Day.In to-day's materialistic world hardly we can see this kind of employer,employee relationship.
Suresh and Bhavna Patel
Markham, Canada
