'Mothering is gender-neutral': Inspirational story of retired colonel turning 'mother' melts hearts online

As we all know, every father is a hero in his daughter’s eyes. However, when a daughter enters a new phase of life of becoming a mother, it’s her mother who takes every necessary responsibility to keep the new mom and the baby healthy and safe. Recently, an Indian father has broken the norm and taken every possible responsibility to look after his pregnant daughter who was overseas during her pregnancy period. A retired Army Colonel Sanjay Pande, who is a single parent, has created waves across the internet after he shared his heart-warming story of turning into ‘a mother’ to take care of his daughter’s health. On the thread that Pande shared on Twitter, he wrote that he got the news of becoming a grandfather after one year of his wife’s death. He might be the ‘most useless guy’ around in the presence of his wife. But, being a fighter and a father as well, he realised his responsibility to be solicitous to his daughter who was in the UK. But it was a tough challenge for him.

2. I decided to be my daughters ‘mother’. Right from the day she informed me, I planned her traditional diet, learnt by researching through nights, YouTube, elders, books and everything I could lay my hands on. The FIRST batch of laddus for 30 days was ready. Problem? Delhi & UK!

— Col Sanjay Pande (@ColSanjayPande) May 8, 2022

Colonel Pande planned a traditional healthy diet for his daughter and learnt the required recipes from Youtube, books and some experienced elderly people he knows. But, it was also a concern to send the food far away in the UK from Delhi. He planned to use the Vaccum packing machine and food-grade plastics to send the frozen laddoos to the UK by parcel. “The first lot saved my daughter’s life since she was eating nothing. 15 days later the second different type of laddus was made and frozen. 21st day dispatched,” he wrote. During the cycle, Pande learnt everything from food preparation to the storing technique. He took the charge of his daughter’s nutrition and prepared the healthy foods personally maintaining proper hygiene, nutrients, and calories. According to him, “Eighth month, Seventh, Sixth, Fifth, Fourth, Third, Second and the month of due date. I fed her nutrients from here. COVID did not permit travel. All eight months she was fed in UK what she would have got here.” However, the story is not over yet. As a responsible father, he ran research on the foods that help in lactation during the post-pregnancy period. After sending the first lot from Delhi, he visited his daughter in the UK to see his grandchild. “I visited the UK and made in bulk. Whether it was Garden Cress, Edible Gum, Methi, Shatawari or many such things,” Pande added. In January 2019, while preparing the diet for his daughter, Pande learned recipes of more than 12 laddus that women require from conception to the baby crossing a year of age. The internet users got overwhelmed after knowing the spirit of a father and made their eyes moist.