A Facebook post by a non resident Keralite who works in Bahrain has gone viral, and people are applauding him for his love and respect for his father.
Devis Devassy Chiramel, a resident of Manama, has been inviting his father to visit him in Bahrain for years now, but his father always politely refused. It was only recently that he found out why.
Devis’s father, who has always lived in a village, has never worn any footwear. He always wears a mundu (a version of Dhoti )and is not comfortable with pants. And when his son invited him abroad, he was afraid of insulting Devis in front of his friends by not wearing shoes.
But Devis managed to finally convince his father - and just as the trip started, he got rid of his own footwear and pants as well.
“Today we are going to Bahrain, and till my father returns from the Arab land, I, too, will not wear shoes or pants. I will only wear the mundu,” Devis wrote in an emotional Facebook post.
Sharing a photo of his father and mother from the airport, on the way to Bahrain, Devis wrote:
“I love my father without footwear.
I have invited my father to Bahrain several times, but he always lovingly refused. My mother has visited my place thrice, but my father never came.
It was only in December last year that I came to know the reason. My father is a farmer from a village in Kerala. He has never worn footwear or pants in his life. So, my father thought that I may get ashamed to take him to my friends in Bahrain without footwear or pants.
Today, (14th March) we are going to Bahrain. Till my father returns from the Arab land, I, too, will not wear shoes or pants. I will only wear the mundu.
It is because of the blood spilled from my father’s bare feet as he walked through the hills and jungles, that I could achieve something in my life.
It is painful to walk barefoot, but it is a bittersweet pain. I understood the pain parents endure for their children only when I became a father myself.
Instead of offering flowers at the tomb of our parents, let us give them flowers in their hands while they are alive.”