The single father ensured that his pregnant daughter got everything in the UK. (Representational)
Parenting is a huge responsibility that becomes considerably more difficult when you are the sole caregiver for your child. As a single parent, one has to fulfil the roles of both father and mother, ensuring that the child has all they need. Here's a story that will undoubtedly make you happy. It's about Col Sanjay Pande (Retd), who, in the absence of his wife, took on the task of caring for his pregnant daughter hundreds of miles away. The retired officer shared his story through a thread on Twitter.
A year after his wife died, his daughter informed him that she was pregnant. However, as a single father, he felt he had no idea what kind of care a woman required during pregnancy, and felt that he would have been the "most useless guy around”. But then he said, he was “a fighter”.
So, he decided to be his daughter's "mother".
"Right from the day she informed me, I planned her traditional diet, learnt by researching through nights, YouTube, elders, books and everything I could lay my hands on. The first batch of laddus for 30 days was ready," he wrote.
However, there was one problem: distance. His daughter lived in the UK while he was in Delhi.
So, what did he do? Before sending the laddoos to the UK, he vacuum-sealed and froze them for 96 hours.
"The first lot saved my daughter's life since she was eating nothing. 15 days later, the second different type of laddus were made and frozen. 21st day dispatched!" he wrote.
That's how the "cycle started".
"Every type of healthy and nutritious food that a traditional Indian mother would give to her daughter, was made by me personally. Hygiene, calculation of nutrients, calories, weight of laddus, storing technique, etc. all were meticulously written down," he tweeted.
Because of COVID-19, he couldn't travel to the UK. So, the retired colonel ensured that his daughter got everything in the UK that "she would have got here" in India.
But then there was another challenge ahead of him: "What to feed her post-pregnancy?"
He got down to researching foods and superfoods that help in lactation or increase milk etc. He gathered the ingredients and sent them to her again. Finally, when he could, the retired colonel travelled to the UK to be with his daughter where he made the food "in bulk".
He says, he "became master."
"Mixing ingredients, balancing calories and seeing the effect with own eyes. From Jan 19 to date, the flow of this special mother's food was given by me, a father, to my daughter. It continues," he said.
Now, he has the recipes for over 12 laddoos that he said women require from conception to the time the baby turns a year old. "I feel so proud of myself that I did not let my wife down. My daughter swears by me and refuses to touch anything given by others," he wrote.
The retired colonel said that whatever he did from January 2019 till now "was anything but my duty." He added that he was amazed at the "response, comments, suggestions and kind words from Twitter friends" on his thread. He ends the thread saying "you all made me cry today."
His story has tugged at the heartstrings of several people.
One user wrote, "Please share it with many daughters of India who require you. We can organise a fund raiser and start up. A brilliant idea of canning laddus."
Another user suggested that the retired colonel should "write a book of recipes, reasons, emotions." The user added that not all fathers, and sometimes even mothers, have this kind of talent, patience, and determination.
One user also wished him "Happy Mother's Day", because he was the mother to his daughter in his wife's absence.
A fourth user wrote that he had done beyond anything that mothers, husbands, mothers-in-law, sisters or friends would do, and that his daughter was lucky to have such a father.
Let us know what you think of this touching story.