I had some kind of conversation with my dad late last night (by then as usual he already had a couple pegs of whiskey). My dad said he spoke to my older brother who’s settled in Canada, and he too wanted to get his Canada visa done so that he could visit my brother sometime. Well he didn’t even have enough money to pay for his visa, but that didn’t stop him from planning his travel.
I pitched in and asked him why he would be trying to get a visa. Poor dad said he doesn’t have his own health insurance, and what he gets as a a pension is peanuts (like USD 20 a month), and he still has to work to get his needs met. He thought if he visited Canada and stayed with his oldest son, he would be entitled to Canada’s medicare. He honestly thought since he is too old, Canada would actually look after him by paying him a kind of retirement pension too. He said he even intended to work in Canada at his tender age of 70. Poor old dad.
I felt a little bad listening to my dad’s intentions. I explained him that’s not how it works for a visitor visa and tried to convince him that if he stayed back in India, he would have a better life. I also continued and told him that in few years, his granddaughter (now 11 years old) would probably invite him to attend her marriage so he could actually go to Canada in some years. He agreed and didn’t say much.
After that, I actually did the math and came to realize to that when she is old enough to get married, my father would be close to 90. Probably he won’t be able to fly then. When my eyes were filled with tears, I realized that time is ticking fast. Gosh, 20 years ago it was so fun 😦
Lingsy's Avenue 