R for Raconteurs | AtoZ Challenge

I had nearly given up on the challenge cos Baby Hashtag has a really troubled night's sleep. I intended to be at her Beck and call the entire day and as luck would have it, she gave me some 'me time' eventually.

My husband is many things. To his parents, a dedicated son. To his family, a watchful over-indulging family man. To his friends, an extremely loyal and truthful friend. To his colleagues, a fun and able co-worker. To me, his wife, everything I want him to be. Even more. He is also renowned for his temper, and more often than not tells it like how it is. So reveration and fear are two things he gets often from people.

But ever since Baby Hashtag was born, I have seen a whole new side to this man. Yes, he is an exceptionally careful father. Very loving, and nurturing. One thing I found out about him during my pregnancy was that he was a Raconteur. While I am dying to introduce books or some other communication aides to the baby, the husband insists I tell her a story. Now I know only this one story, that of the tortoise and the hare. I mean who doesn't. After a couple of recitations, the purpose of story telling was lost on me. I decided I would just read to her when she grows older.

But not my husband, no. Turns out, this storytelling habit of his had carried on from his own childhood now to my baby's bachpan. So there he is, one fine evening, reciting some random story about Kings and his sons to this little baby who looks up at him in awe. She gets nothing out of it, does not understand anything but the way these two look at each other will convince you that they can converse in some secret language.

8 years of knowing this man and this side of him, of a doting father, is what I love the most. Moreso he reminds me of my own father who was a really funny man who always had anecdotes up his sleeve. I've written extensively about my father in his fond remembrance but it never seems to be enough. His stories about his childhood and the days when he was growing up still make us laugh. With him around to entertain, there was hardly ever a dull moment. And he loved his family to bits.

They have so much in common, these two men of my life.

My Father. My Husband. The Raconteurs.