Daddy and me: Readers share their photos!

Readers share memorable pictures of their dads.

On the occasion of Father's Day, we'd invited readers to send in special 'Daddy and Me' photographs. Father's Day went by on June 16 and we are posting the final set of responses.

We begin with this photograph of Satyajit Saha's father. Satyajit writes:

My dad Swapan Saha is my world to me. No other word is appropriate to describe him. My relation with my father totally different. He is more like a friend to me. We used to play together, go out for cycling together, go for movies and what not. It has been almost 32 years and he is still the same. The same caring nature and the same protective attitude.

I still remember those exam days when he used to take me for a bicycle ride when I get stressed out with the studies.

He has accompanied me to the first day of my collage, university and even to IIT Kanpur where I registered for my PhD. I consider myself to be lucky to get his company at the very first day of my new ventures all the time. This is because of you I am what I am.

May be words are not sufficient to describe my feeling for you. But still I would like to say "Baba, I love you!"

Harish Pinnamaneni sends in this photograph of his father and son and sends in his best wishes: "Daddy we love you; I will fall short of words to say how much you mean to us. I love you Dad!"

Ravindra Gudi writes about his father Setumadhav Keshav Gudi: My Dad has always been and will remain my hero and my inspiration. It's been two years he isn't anymore with us. But his memories and his teachings have remained with us. He lived life in a simple manner, very pious and still very practical. He served the Ministry of External Affairs and retired as an RPO, Bengaluru in 1985.

His ways of scolding us was also unique, it was never a reaction or a slap but a positive response with a proper root cause analysis, which he shared with us and explained. He is the architect of the life we are living today.

You, will always remain in my heart as a friend, hero and a very loving dad!

Samidha sends in this photograph and writes in:

"Father is a very special person for all of us in our lives. All my childhood memories have been around my father. When I look back my father's involvement in our day-to-day activities, it amazes me. My mother was a working professional and he was actively involved in the lives of my two younger brothers and me. He'd get us ready for school, help us with our studies, brush our teeth and prepare us for various competitions!

We learnt a lot from him by just observing his disciplined lifestyle. Even now I look up to my father for his valuable advice. This photo is with my parents and my younger brother, Sameer (my youngest brother Siddhesh was born then)."

Manish Zokarkar shares this rare photograph of his father Vinayak Zokarkar and says that he remembers his father even after 15 years of him having passed away.

He tries to live by his father's advice of giving happiness to others and winning their hearts by your deeds.

"My father was a common man with very extraordinary thoughts to inspire and encourage us, Zokarkar writes adding that he always inspired them to invest in human relations than in materialistic wealth.

Next up we have Stanley who describes his father as a 5-feet-1-inch dynamic man with a never-say-die attitude.

"He left Mangalore, Karnataka in 1960 for Mumbai and worked for the Railways. But he always wanted to do something bigger. So, after he married my mother in 1965, he started a business. Sadly he was cheated by his friends and by the time I was born in 1966, he was in the worst phase of his career.

Ever the fighter, he joined Sophia College and was promoted as the Canteen Manager. In 1969, my sister was born and the tide changed for better. He left his job and started this business by taking over the running of the canteen of Villa Theresa School. He ran it between 1979 and 1999, simultaneously started supplying Punjabi samosas to the theatres in South Mumbai like Minerva, Apsara and Maratha Mandir among others.

Then he started a restaurant and ran it successfully. His list of achievements is long and I sometimes wish I could achieve even 10 per cent of what he did.

I had many chances to leave him... but somehow could not. There was something in his eyes that said: 'Son, don't leave me.'

I have seen him happy several times but I think the happiest moments came during my marriage, when I became a father and when he would play with his granddaughters.

He missed his daughter (my sister) as she is in Australia, but I think my wife filled up the void.

Dad, I had the great privilege to be with you every time you fell ill and be with you during your illness for so many years and even you felt bad… but for what you have done and given me… this is nothing.

I'm 47 years and for the first time you are not with me on Father's Day! You left us last year in August. Since then no day passes without remembering you in our prayers...!

My Papa, Dad, Daddy… we love you and miss you. Now you can wish your father in Heaven!"

Farhanaz Mirza, sends in these photographs and wrote:

"My daddy, MA Baig is my ultimate hero. He worked as a Bank Director in Naval Dockyard, Mumbai. He's not with me anymore now but his sweet memories and the quality time I spent with him will remain and be cherished by me forever.

I lost him seven years when I was 17. He was everything to me. I am the only child of my parents and the care and love which I received from my father is unforgettable.

I learnt a lot from him about life. He went through so much of struggle when he came to Mumbai to earn his living. But his righteousness, honesty and dedication towards his work earned him great and unending respects from many and also the workers from his work place love to remember him still for the help and good work he did to them.

It really feels very nice and proud when not just me but also the one's who know him talk good about him, his selfless personality and helping nature.

The two very important things -- I remember my father telling me always was to help others and be honest. My daddy always resembled me with his late mother and so he use to always call me 'Maa' instead of my nickname Dolly or my real name Farhanaz, and also tell me how very special I was to him .

Though he is not with me today but his love and care is still felt. I pray to Allah always for him and every single time in my prayers, I promise to remember and love him till my last breath!

I love you, Daddy!"

Sudarshan S Ghavalkar sent us this photograph of his dad and remembers the day of his father's funeral when in a speech a joint secretary of the BJP aptly described him as the Maharana Pratap of Humnabad.

He really was that, Ghavalkar writes.

Mayuri Patil sent us this photograph of her father with a single-line message: "Just want to say love you daddy!"

Next up, we have Puneet Mathur who sent us this note:

On this auspicious occasion I would like to say that my father is a true motivator and he is the only one who taught me how to live my life. He always encouraged me with his words and was there for me whenever I needed support.

Apart from this, my father has been a good human being. He always lived for his family, sacrificed his dreams for the education of his children. We are two brothers and one sister and we have been living separately for the last 12 years because of our education, meeting up only during vacations.

He’d call us up daily but he’d never discuss their problems. All I would see is a smile on his face. I don't have words to describe my feelings for my father but I would at the very least just want to say that "a man is not a man without woman" and so my mother has contributed equally to my father’s (and our) lives.

I salute you on behalf of entire family.

Happy Fathers' Day!

Finally, we have Dr Madhumita Sarkar from West Africa who says she is too far away to share a picture of her father and her but writes this:

"The only expectation my father had from the three of us -- my brothers and me -- was good education. He never stood second in his life, yet he had to give up what he loved most because of the partition. He watched me grow like a father-mother bird, every milestone I crossed was a celebration for the family, every exam I took in my life was a shared exam. I remember when I first went to visit my parents with my husband after my marriage, he ensured my mother served the part of the fish I loved most, completely forgetting that he needed to ask his new son-in-law who was visiting him for the first time! He believed in equity, hoping a better school will deliver better results for me and ensured I went to the best school; it was too expensive for us and my brothers were far more brilliant while I was mediocre. I miss him every day, my parents are no more, what I am today and the values ingrained in me is because of him and ma. He would have surely put an arm around my husband and told him we did very well."