Ankur Sharma

(Photo credit: Illustration by Emily Marcus/Standard-Examiner) Dear You, You changed me when we met. You zapped me. You made me, me . You see, before, I was fat. With you, I am an athlete. Before I had a job. With you, I have a career. Before, I was ugly. With you, I am a lover. And I am a friend as well, and not lonely. I am not scared any more. I am alive. We are so much better as one, you know. As one, we work. Love, One Half of Us. Inspired from "Dear You" of Freaks

I was in Delhi last weekend, on an urgently arranged trip.  My sister's father-in-law had passed away. Having visited there, was a humbling experience for me and taught me a thing or two about life and most importantly death. I wanted to show up in person to offer condolences, more so for my brother-in-law, than for any thing else. The reason was simply that he is one person I believe closest to who I want to be, in terms of temperament and finding happiness in life. And I truly believe that one of the biggest of reason of who he is and how he is; is because of his upbringing, father being large part of it. For people who think, death scares kids, I found my nephew and niece handling it far more in a far more mature manner than many adults.   During our conversations over the weekend, my brother-in-law talked about the happy times he had with his father, telling me, albeit not directly, what does it take you to be a good father and most importantly a gre...