Battle Ready: An Ode to Papa Syed

One of my favorite Greek myths is about the origin of Athena- how she skipped the whole being-born-of-woman-thing and broke forth from her father Zeus' head, fully grown and armed for battle. [insert joke about young women being the #1 cause of father headaches]. 

The story of fathers and daughters is complex, but somewhere in the tale of Athena's brain-splitting might spilling out from her father's cranium, we can begin to see a picture of what it really means to be a Daddy's Girl. 

Papa Syed is a perpetual wanderer- a world traveler ever since I can remember- full of big ideas that find him constantly trekking the globe. He always comes back with even bigger stories, and consequently, I've forever been attracted to the pull of international adventure, and the stories to be found outside of ourselves.

Whenever he'd return from one of his trips, I remember crowding around his suitcase as he pulled out exotic gifts picked up from Prague or Kathmandu. My room was always lined with ethnic dresses and dolls from different corners of the globe. It's how as a 5-year old Pakistani I became dexterous with chopsticks, and developed a palate for wild-and-wooly world cuisine. Ever the culinary adventurer, Papa Syed would cook up recipes he had picked up along the way, regaling us with stories of the dish's origins and the proper way to go about eating it. 

Papa Syed also taught me the value and honor of work, and that creativity on its own was never rewarded unless you put sweat and drive behind it. A Syed work cycle is never-ending. Wherever he is in the world, Papa Syed rises each morning promptly at 4am, (jet lag and time zone differences be damned). He brews himself a cup of chai with extra milk and gets to work. He power naps in the afternoon, only to wake in the evening, brew another cup of chai, and begin again. Anyone who has seen me work can attest that I adhere to the same perpetual wake-chai-sleep cycle. 

Papa Syed taught me that emotional investment is what drives projects,  a belief in a greater good, a belief in something larger than yourself. Money itself is never enough for dreamers. At heart that's what Papa Syed always has been and I, his daughter now am- a dreamer. 

Each of Papa Syed's lessons have creeped their way into my life, manifesting in my habits and opinions. From the proper way to chop a chili pepper to the fact that a light blue shirt and red tie are a "power combination," (I'm still figuring out how to translate this power to women's dress), his lessons permeate into how I interact with the world around me. 

My father has taught me many things, the most valuable the art of resilience and independence, (and if you had any doubt, independence is an art), so that I, too, may spring forth from his wisdom one day, and be ready to attack the world.

Happy Father's Day.