0:10

In the beginning of this show, I told you about

0:12

this mission I am on. Over

0:14

the course of nineteen chapters. I wanted

0:16

to tell you stories from my life,

0:19

the lessons I've learned through swimming and

0:21

falling and flying. I

0:25

also wanted to bring you stories from other people

0:27

in other places in the world, stories

0:29

to help us remember the sweetness

0:32

of life, everyday acts of

0:34

kindness, and the differences

0:36

we can make in the world around us. Together,

0:40

we have met wizards in New Zealand,

0:42

caught ducklings in Washington, traveled

0:44

across the world on bicycle, and

0:47

I've taken you through my hometown him.

0:53

Today, I want to

0:55

do something different. Instead

0:57

of bringing two stories together, I

1:00

want to tell you about the many

1:02

people connected by a single story. My

1:05

father's So

1:08

today is about my dad and

1:10

how through trains, newspapers

1:13

and the mall road is light reached

1:15

every corner of our little town. Welcome

1:19

to one of them. Cares Chapter

1:21

twenty, Live Life.

1:34

My father pushed Cannot Care. Was full of kindness.

1:37

He always said, the easiest

1:39

thing in the world is to make somebody else happy,

1:42

and he practiced it in ways big and

1:44

small. When

1:48

my father would go out to buy groceries. If

1:51

he met somebody on the way home and they

1:53

said, push,

1:56

what are you carring? You would say,

1:58

oh, I'm care eggs

2:01

or whatever it was that day, and then

2:03

he would suddenly realize, maybe this man

2:05

also needs eggs, so he would

2:07

take out four or five eggs and give them

2:09

to him.

2:12

This was how my father bought

2:14

groceries. Thank you. He

2:17

sometimes came home empty handed and

2:20

was greeted by a very heavy hand from my

2:22

mother. They

2:25

used to have major arguments about it. My mother

2:27

would say, what the hell is wrong with you?

2:30

You're basically taking those things from our

2:32

home, and my father would say he needed it also,

2:34

so I gave it to him,

2:37

barking story samand it. Of

2:41

course, sometimes this

2:43

generosity got him in trouble. One

2:47

day, my father bought two lipsticks

2:49

for my mother, and when he was heading

2:51

back home, he ran into a local

2:53

woman, Mrs Malutra, and

2:55

when she asked what he was carrying, he

2:58

ended up giving her one of the lipsticks.

3:01

It was the biggest mistake of his life. That

3:05

was the day my mother really gave it to him. She

3:07

said, how dare you give lipstick to somebody?

3:10

And he would say, what will you do? With two lipsticks, and

3:13

that's how it always went. Even

3:17

today, my mother says that he was too charitable

3:20

and let's say complaint, but

3:22

he would say past Japan set them

3:24

on. What

3:27

do I need to save money for? Let's

3:29

give it to people. Nobody takes money

3:31

for himself for herself up there. My

3:37

father did funny little things too. Once

3:39

he stole my phone and raided my director.

3:41

He copied down every actor's number,

3:43

and soon he began to call them up and

3:46

he hello, alkor I'm

3:49

push push father,

3:52

yes, yes, how are you everybody? Fine?

3:55

Family? Fine father, find mother, fine

3:57

wife, fine kids. Fine. Over time he'd

3:59

be friended so many famous actors, Jackie

4:01

Shroff, Mnder And

4:04

like me, my father wouldn't mind the spotlight.

4:07

He would get into every picture he could. He

4:09

would even take pictures with my fans

4:11

on his phone. Then he would take

4:13

down the fan's phone number and send them the

4:15

photos. He

4:19

was a funny man and he had

4:21

a big heart. So

4:25

now that you know a little about him, I'm going

4:27

to start the story at the end and

4:29

tell you about my last moments with my father.

4:37

In two thousand twelve, my father got very

4:39

sick. He was taking antibiotics,

4:43

and he had a rare reaction. The

4:46

antibiotics changed his ability to taste,

4:49

so water became like acid and

4:52

food became like sand. Over

4:56

the course of a few months, my father began

4:58

to staff. We

5:00

took him to the hospital and did everything we

5:02

could. The doctor gave him food

5:04

through tubes and infused him with

5:07

vitamins, but this condition

5:09

only worsened. Eventually,

5:12

the doctor said there's nothing

5:14

more we can do. Of

5:18

course, this broke my heart, but

5:20

my mother and my brother Raju, and I knew we

5:22

had to be brave for my father. So

5:25

we took him home and made him as comfortable

5:28

as we could. Some

5:33

time passed and I was invited

5:35

to a wedding in Goa. I

5:38

was hesitant to go too far from home. My

5:40

dad didn't seem to be getting better, but he also

5:43

didn't seem to be getting any worse. So

5:46

I decided to go. But

5:48

as I was preparing to leave, my brother called. He

5:50

said, he wants to talk to you. I

5:55

canceled my trip. When

6:02

I got home, Raju was standing out shut of my

6:04

father's room. He said he wants

6:06

to say something, and he's insisting

6:09

that he will only tell you. I

6:15

took a deep breath and entered. By

6:19

the time, he had very little energy

6:21

left. It was too hard for him

6:23

to speak. But

6:25

I saw there was a blank piece of paper

6:27

and depend on his chest. I

6:30

went to his side and said, Papa,

6:34

I'm here. When you mar you

6:38

wanted to tell me something with

6:40

great difficulty. He nodded his head. Then

6:44

he started writing something. He

6:50

even hit the paper from me so

6:53

that I couldn't see what he was writing. It was

6:55

hard for me to watch. His movements

6:57

were slow and labored, but

7:05

every so often he would look up with

7:07

an expression that seemed to say, don't you

7:09

speak, no cheating, which

7:11

made me smile. So he was

7:14

weak, his spirit was

7:16

strong as ever m

7:20

and he finished writing. He let

7:23

the note fall to his chest. I

7:25

slowly reached for the paper. I

7:30

wasn't sure if I was ready to read what he

7:32

had to tell me, But

7:35

when I turned the note over, I saw there

7:37

were only faint lines dragged across

7:39

the paper, no words.

7:43

I looked at my father, who was staring at me

7:45

expectantly. In

7:47

his mind, he thought he had written me a message,

7:49

but in reality he didn't

7:51

have the energy to actually form letters on

7:54

the page. I

7:56

didn't know what to do. My

7:59

father was clearly waiting for an answer.

8:01

I had no idea what he had written. The last thing

8:03

I wanted to do was to make him feel defeated,

8:07

So I said, yes, yes, of course,

8:09

Papa, you're right here, You're you're right, of course.

8:11

Do you take? Go on, take to Luke Mud. My

8:15

father's face fell. He

8:17

was disappointed. My

8:20

mind race trying to figure out how else

8:22

could I respond to this mystery message.

8:26

But our interaction had exhausted my

8:28

father. He

8:30

closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. As

8:36

he slept, I turned the paper upside down

8:39

and sideways, trying to understand. I

8:43

left his room, consumed by curiosity

8:46

and then guilt. I

8:48

worried that I had missed my only chance to

8:51

hear my father's last words. At

8:54

various moments in my life, my father had caught

8:56

me in a lie, and each time he had taught

8:58

me the importance of honest team. I

9:01

was going to prove to him that I had listened.

9:05

Later, I went back to my father's room and waited

9:08

for him to wake up, and

9:11

he opened his eyes. I

9:13

said quickly, I'm

9:15

sorry, Papa, I couldn't read what you wrote.

9:17

To me, But I want

9:19

to understand what what? What? What did you want

9:22

to tell me? My

9:25

father opened his mouth and

9:28

I leaned in very close, and

9:31

with all of his strength, he

9:33

whispered two words, live

9:38

life. Those

9:44

were his last two words to me. Twenty

9:47

minutes later, my

9:49

father passed away. At

9:55

that time, all I wanted was to be alone and let

9:57

his words sink in. But there was

9:59

no time. We needed to plan the funeral. Raju

10:02

and I wanted to spare my mother this burden, so

10:04

we decided to short the details ourselves.

10:08

A traditional Hindu funeral is supposed to be

10:10

very, very solemn. All

10:14

the guests dressed in white.

10:16

We sing somber hymns. That's

10:18

what Raja and I had intended to do. We

10:22

sat down to plant the ceremony, but

10:25

as we did, I couldn't get my father's

10:27

words out of my head. Live

10:29

life, Live life,

10:33

Live life. Suddenly a

10:35

blooded out. I think we should book a rock

10:37

band, rock

10:39

band. Lab Raju

10:42

looked at me like I had lost my senses. I repeated

10:44

myself, I think we should call a rock

10:46

band who will sing our father's favorite songs,

10:49

and let's tell people to wear colorful clothes.

10:52

What are you talking about Rajas? Confused, think

10:55

of who our father was. We should not moan his lost,

10:57

We should celebrate his life. So

11:02

we called everyone and said, in four days

11:04

we are going to have a prayer ceremony. Please

11:06

come, and when you come, please wear your most

11:09

colorful clothes and bring your funniest stories

11:11

of my father. We want to honor his

11:13

memory with joy and laughter. The

11:19

day of the ceremony, I began to second guess myself.

11:23

Did I make a mistake? What if

11:25

the concept was too strange? What

11:28

if no one shows up? I

11:30

was getting nervous. To

11:32

take my mind off the service, I decided

11:34

to pick up a copy of my hat's favorite

11:36

Shimla newspaper. That the very

11:38

much this newspaper

11:41

was local, I mean really local.

11:44

To put it into us terms, if they

11:47

Marchell was in New York, it would

11:49

be printed in Queens and we called

11:51

the Queen's Necklace and only cover news

11:53

from a three block radius was

11:56

something like that. But my

11:59

father was ast with this newspaper,

12:01

and he and I used to bicker about

12:03

its importance. I would tell him about a fantastic

12:05

review of one of my films, and my father would

12:07

say, what

12:10

does the Muchell have to say about it. I

12:13

would invite him to a premiere of a movie I

12:15

had started, and he would say, I will

12:18

see the film after that. The Way Marchell review

12:20

is published, I

12:22

could have been written up in Time magazine, But my

12:24

father would say, talk to me

12:26

when you were in the Way Much. There

12:31

was one time when I was talking to my father and I told

12:33

him that I felt like I had entered a golden period

12:35

in my career. But to this, my father said,

12:38

I don't know a bit too. I have not seen

12:40

anything about you in the Way Much lately. Can

12:43

you believe it? So I told

12:45

him, fine, I want to talk to the editor of

12:47

The Way Muchel and settled this once for all. So

12:50

the next day my father called me from the

12:52

Way Much a editor's office. The

12:54

editor, who was probably only a part

12:57

time editor and a full time street sweeper practically

13:00

of his German. I answered the phone, so

13:03

listen to your mr. Editor. If you don't carry one

13:05

story about me each week for the rest of your

13:07

life, I am going to have to buy your newspaper

13:10

and write the stories myself. So

13:13

from that day on, it became my

13:16

manager's job to send the editors some material

13:18

on me. The

13:21

rabbit us to carry today. An opum

13:23

kid smiled this weekend anpum

13:25

care to a walk. But

13:29

when I opened their way much along the day

13:31

of my father's prayer ceremony, an

13:33

obituary for my father was on the front

13:36

page. The article

13:38

began, we will not see

13:40

Pushka nat on the streets of Mall

13:42

Road now. The obituary

13:45

carried on for three pages. In

13:49

that moment, I was overwhelmed

13:51

with emotion. I knew that there

13:53

were plenty of people like this editor who

13:55

had crossed paths with my father and had

13:57

some memory something they needed to say about

14:00

him, and by sharing these stories

14:03

we would truly be honoring his life. At

14:07

that moment, I knew that even

14:09

if no one came to this strange service, it

14:12

was the right thing to do. But

14:17

everyone came. We

14:20

held the service in the Haradamahrikisha Temple.

14:23

It was an auditorium that could hold a couple hundred

14:26

people, but on the day

14:28

more than six hundred people packed in for

14:30

the service, relatives, neighbors,

14:32

local vendors, directors, film

14:34

stars, the ex Chief Nistry of Kashmir.

14:38

Every chair was full and people were even spilling

14:40

into the aisles and sitting on the stairs.

14:45

When the service began, I

14:48

got up in front of all these people moaning,

14:51

and I told the funniest stories I could think

14:53

of. I told

14:55

them about the bread cellar. I

14:59

told them about the in apple pastries, an

15:01

event. I told them about

15:03

two lipsticks. This

15:06

was not done at Indian career ceremonies.

15:09

And I went on and on and everyone laughed

15:12

and they laughed hard. People

15:14

were falling from their seats. And

15:18

after me, more people got on stage. My wife

15:20

told hilarious stories. Then

15:23

my first director but got on stage

15:25

and made me laugh until tears rolled down my

15:27

face. The other thing which is never

15:32

execated, to put their hands into the pumps,

15:35

in fact, I often. And

15:44

then there was the band. When I first

15:46

suggested working the rock band, Raju had looked

15:48

at me funnily, and yes,

15:51

we did get a rock band. They weren't

15:53

playing led Zeppelin, though I

15:55

had asked them to play all of my father's favorite

15:58

Bollywood songs journey

16:01

Okay see look

16:04

Jink Miller,

16:10

But instead of playing the tune slowly and mournfully,

16:13

I asked the band to play them fast. Look.

16:20

That was a celebration. So

16:24

we laughed, and we danced and

16:26

we sang, and I knew my father would have loved

16:29

it. Yea.

16:38

After the service, crowds of people came up

16:40

to me to talk about my dad. A

16:43

stranger came up to me and said, do

16:45

you remember getting a call at to thirtm

16:48

in the morning from your father on

16:50

a train asking you to speak to a passenger?

16:53

Yes, I said, slowly, that was me, The

16:56

man said, excitedly. Your father entered

16:58

the coach compartment and announced, everyone,

17:00

do you know whose father? I am? A

17:03

palm kid, I must admit

17:05

I laughed at your father. He heard me laughing and

17:07

said, you don't believe me that. I'll

17:09

prove it to you. Then he called you at two thirty

17:12

in the morning and he called you something I don't

17:14

remember, bit too. I answered,

17:17

yes, but too. Your father said,

17:19

but to talk to this man. He doesn't believe that I am your

17:21

father. So you got on the line Hello,

17:24

but I didn't recognize your voice, probably because

17:26

you were so sleepy. So I said, okay,

17:30

how do I know you are really on the palm care? Give me

17:32

some famous dialogue from one of your films.

17:35

And then in the middle of the night you

17:37

gave me a monologue Dr

17:41

Dang creates war. Yes, yes

17:44

you're hello, Hello, this

17:47

is the stranger and I started quoting lines

17:49

to each other like long lost co stars, giggling

17:51

the entire time. Yea undt

17:59

donible. Then

18:03

the Shimla mailman came up and said he

18:06

remember how your dad would send you letters addressed

18:09

to a pum care the

18:11

film star Bombay. I

18:14

think he did that just so I could get a laugh.

18:17

Then one person told me that my father had been

18:20

sending him five hundred rupees a month for the last

18:22

ten years. And then

18:24

another person came up to me and told me the same

18:26

thing, and then another, and then another, until

18:29

at least twenty people told me the same

18:31

story of my father's quiet generosity.

18:35

I had been sending money home to my father for about

18:38

the same amount of time, and now

18:40

I knew where the money was really going. By

18:45

the end of the day, there was a long

18:48

line of people waiting to talk to me about

18:50

my father. But instead

18:52

of a q I saw the streets of Simla.

18:56

In every phase, I saw a house, brit

18:59

shop or a school, some part

19:01

of the city that my father had reached and

19:03

so laid out before me I saw

19:06

the whole map of my home, but

19:11

most notably, my

19:13

mother approached me. My

19:16

mother and father had been married for fifty nine

19:18

years. She lost not only

19:21

her husband, but her lifelong companion,

19:23

her best friend. I

19:26

was most worried for her, but

19:29

throughout the whole service, she was cracking up.

19:32

She rode with laughter from my stories.

19:38

After the ceremony, she said

19:40

to me and Raju, thank

19:43

you for celebrating your father's life like this.

19:46

I did not know I was married to such

19:48

a great man. May

19:53

God bless you. I

19:58

say this often when I speak about man Dad.

20:01

I think many people in my line of work would

20:03

overlook my father's story. No

20:06

one in the industry is racing to make a film about

20:08

his life. He wasn't rich or

20:11

famous, but he was

20:13

extraordinary. And

20:16

as I looked around an auditorium that was buzzing

20:19

with love for him, I knew

20:21

it was because he had followed his own advice,

20:25

the same advice he passed down to me, and

20:27

the same advice I'm passing down to you. Live

20:32

life. That's

20:55

all for this season. I'm

20:57

an open care be kind

20:59

to yourself, and thank

21:01

you for listening. Palm

21:15

Cares is a production of I Heart Radio. I'm

21:18

your host a pump Care Our

21:20

executive producer Is Mangis, Senior

21:24

producer Julian Weller, Associate

21:26

producer Morgan Lavoy. Sound

21:29

design and mixing by Julian Weller

21:31

and Dan Bauza. Music

21:34

by Aaron Kauffman. Production

21:36

support from Emily Marinov and

21:39

Mary du Writing by

21:41

Lucas Riley, Matt Riddle,

21:44

Margon Lavoy and Julian Weller.

21:46

Lucas Riley and Matt Riddle are our

21:49

story editors. Thanks

21:51

to Sicken par Herman, Desuza, Godwin

21:53

Amana, Sidium Studios, Cornel

21:56

Byrne and Bob Pittman. Yeah

22:01

M Live,

22:07

Lift, dangelously, live,

22:10

fiercely, live completely,

22:13

and a sense of wonder, which

22:15

is something that every human being loses.

22:18

It's so important to retain that