“My father is like a big banyan tree” - Sriya Sharbojoya

To me, my father is like a big banyan tree, in terms of family or business. As a business leader, he has accomplished so much, it shadows others. He has always been a leader. I remember Iresh writing about baba's childlike attitude, something he shares with me. When I say childlike, I mean he has childlike characteristics, in terms of food, in terms of loving, in terms of pretty much everything, even his relationship with us. If I remember correctly, I was always after my father when he would do something wrong, this was probably because he never yelled at me. The worst thing he did was get mad at me and stopped talking to me for a couple of days. Sometimes he says “I'm a vegetarian” and he'll be a vegetarian for two days, so when I go to his house, I see him with a piece of chicken on his plate, when he sees me see this, he defends himself by saying “Ma, I just sat down with this, I never eat meat!”

He knows how to talk with people from all walks of life, I mean; he has friends who have only passed grade five in Ratanpur to people with several PhDs in Dhaka. He loves to have conversations, you can notice this when we go to weddings, where he's surrounded by people who are all talking to him. Baba is such a morally correct person, I have never seen him push his beliefs onto others, you may believe I say this because he's my father, but that isn't the case, he never told me to do the same, and never had the urge to. This is true of him in terms of family, business, acting and pretty much everything in his life. He taught me how to be morally correct without the use of religion, that pureness comes from within, that hard work along with not giving others a hard time goes a long way.

I'm very fortunate to have two men in my life who have always had my back, my father and my brother. This brings me to the story behind my name, Sharbojoya, which means, 'winner of everything'. He gave me that name with the thought in mind that he wouldn't give me his last name, that he would give me such a name that even when I get married, I'll be able to keep it.  He did this to show me that there is no difference between a man and a woman. The man is so open-minded; he never nagged me as to when I would get married. He just gave me the impression that the world is mine; I can do whatever I want.

My father is a bit over protective though, I remember when I would go to coaching, he'd make sure that there would not only be another person with me, but also ensured a car would follow. I remember when I came back from abroad; I told him that I would get an apartment for myself because I wasn't a child anymore, he said, why do you need an apartment for yourself? You can still live here, but eventually I moved in with my brother, and surprisingly he was fine with that.