Girls write heartwarming letter for 'hero' dad
A Victorian dad has beaten more than 1000 other nominations to become the state’s father of the year, thanks to a touching nomination by his two daughters who describe him as a “real life superhero”.
The reason for Sandeep Jadhav’s honour is best summed up by his 13-year-old daughter Sachi.
“He is always encouraging me to have a go even if you fail, take on a challenge even if you don’t succeed and to always be kind to others,” she said in her speech at Friday’s ceremony.
Sachi and her 16-year-old sister Kushi secretly put their dad’s name forward.
They wrote a letter explaining: “Our dad always says, think outside the box and if you cannot think outside the box, then you should make the box bigger.”
In the letter, the girls said their dad was a “real life superhero”.
“He doesn’t wear a cape though, because he wears army uniform. He is always busy protecting the country. When he has free time he is busy mentoring,” the girls wrote.
The 49-year-old is an electrical engineer in the army but also volunteers as a tutor and mentor, helping hundreds of students with maths and science.
Mr Jadhav described the honour as “a tremendous surprise”.
“Last week I didn’t know about this,” he said.
His wife Kiran is also proud.
“The thing I love about him is he treats all the students exactly like what he treats the girls,” she said.
Sandeep said he enjoys helping people.
“When somebody comes to me and says ‘Thanks Sandeep’, or ‘Thanks Sunny’ – it’s a huge feeling for me,” he said.
Sandeep encourages his daughters and his students to dream big – and that’s exactly what they’re doing.
“I really want to become the prime minister of Australia. It’s a long shot, but I’m willing to take the challenge,” Sachi said.
With her dad’s support, anything is possible.
