The day the shadow of your parents start reflecting in you

The daughter's features resemble that of her mom — **Wow! You look exactly like your mom**

Your parents are responsible for your physical appearance but what about the actions? Where do they come from? There comes a time in life when you not only start resembling like your parents but also start acting like them. The reason is not only the genes you have inherited from your parents but also the love which you have imbibed. Your voice, your actions, the examples you quote, all have a reflection of your parents.

The DNA of your parents controls you

Human beings are genetically designed and the common thread that links you to your parents is called the DNA. It’s the DNA that makes the controlling agent called genes. So, if everybody in the family is tall or has black eyes, you can blame it on the genes that you inherited from your parents. DNA stands for Deoxyribose nucleic acid. Deoxy means lack of an oxygen atom, Ribose means ribose sugar, Nucleic is found in the nucleus of the cell, and Acid contains negatively charged acidic phosphate ion. The COVID 19 the virus that has created havoc in our life is an RNA based virus where RNA stands for Ribose nucleic acid.

A double strand of a DNA — **The DNA strand which makes a gene**

It’s the genes you inherit from your parents that control your physical appearance. As a result you may have curly hairs like your father or black eyes like your mother. The day a newborn arrives in this world he or she gets a lot of compliments and most of them are about his or her resemblance to the parents. Oh, look at the cuty! She has got her mother’s eyes; he has got his father’s nose; his hairs are so black just like his dad and so on.

The physical appearance of a person keeps changing and so is his resemblance to his parents. However as a person ages, his actions also bear a resemblance to his parents.

Your parents have a certain charm in them

I lost my dad some 4 years back. He was an Aeronautical Engineer and when he retired he was too much into reading. Stephen Hawking was his favourite author and “A brief history of Times his favourite” book. But surprisngly the “nerd” gene in him was something I never inherited. People expected that one day I will also become like him but they were hugely disappointed.

Reading a newspaper in the morning was his favourite activity — **Enjoying a newspaper with his morning cup of tea**

What I inherited from him was his love for a newspaper. Every morning he would read a newspaper holding it half-folded in his left hand and a cup of tea in his right. My wife says that seeing me reading a newspaper she is reminded of my dad. With a cup of tea in one hand and the newspaper in the other, I would sit in the same sofa as him. And in case if somebody calls me during that time, I look out of my reading glasses, half inclined over my nose, exactly the way my dad did.

A dog looking through a reading glass — **The way i respond with my reading glasses**

The Irritating genes your parents passed on to you

He loved having his dinner on the dining table along with the family. Just like most males, he had this peculiar habit of shaking his leg under the table constantly. Mom would often reprimand him but he hardly listened. Carrying on with the sequel now his son performs the same exercise and gets reprimanded by his wife. I was never trained to perform this exercise but seems like, it came automatically.

Just like dad i also shake my leg while sitting on a dining table. — **Shaking legs with dad**

He was not pretentious at all. But on the other hand his straightforwardness used to land us in trouble. During parties at home, he was always worried about how my friends will go back late in the night with their spouses. He would often interrupt the party telling my friends that it’s getting late and hope they reach home safely. As a result I used to get irritated and would often tell my wife that few people may mind the way my dad used to tell them. And guess what? Now I am carrying forward the same tradition and my kids get exasperated with this one particular habit.

Your parents at times try to thrust their habits on you — **My son forwarded this message to me recently on WhatsApp group**

One habit which all dads of our times had was that they were early risers. They would get up early at 5.00 – 5.30 am and leave for their morning walk. Once back, they will pull the curtains of the kid’s bedroom asking them to get early. Furthermore there was a piece of free advice about the benefits of exercising in the morning. This gene got transferred to me because of which my wife has banned my entry into the kid’s bedroom in the morning.

The Cooking genes of my mother

Likewise there was a problem encountered by my sisters especially when we were growing up. My mother was an excellent cook. Being from a Kayastha family, she was quite well known in her social circle for making some mouth-watering dishes. Mutton Korma to Palak-paneer; Dal ki kachori to Urad ki kachori; Kheer to Gujiya were just matchless.

Learning cooking skills from your parents — **The Cooking skills my sisters inherited from mom**

The dining table was the joint where my sisters used to get their daily dose of how to become an excellent housewife. They were told that it’s high time they learn the cooking skills. My sisters always used to wriggle out of the situation giving studies as an excuse. Till the time they got married their cooking skills never got tested. But now I must say proudly that all the three sisters are excellent cooks and make dishes as good as my mom. My elder one makes excellent dal; my middle sister used to specialize in mutton korma (She is no more. We lost her to destiny a couple of years back), and the younger makes yummy Kadhi and Rajma.

I am still guessing whether it is the genes or the love behind their cooking skills?

The Cleaning genes which kids inherited from me

My kids have grown up in a home where their dad was always finicky about cleaning. The wardrobe had to be neatly arranged, the books on the study table to be kept vertically, the shoes and sandals to be in the rack, and so on. As a result they never needed any lessons from Mary Kondo, the cleaning expert. For them, their dad was Mary Kondo. Even mom was strict on matters of cleanliness from a hygiene point of view.

A son getting reprimanded by parents for cleanliness — **You will keep your study table properly organised**

And yes the cleanliness genes got transferred from their dad and mom to them. Today my daughter who got married a year back maintains the same levels of cleanliness at home. The clothes are neatly stacked on the wardrobe shelves. The cosmetics are organised neatly on the dressing table in a proper manner. My son who shares his room with some flatmates gets irritated if they don’t maintain proper hygiene in the apartment.

Your actions and behaviour is a gift from your parents

Your actions are something which you imbibe from your parents — **Your parents leave behind not only their genes but also their actions**

More than the physical trait just look at a few of your actions and you will realise that you got it from your parents. It can be the way you eat on the table or talk over the phone; the way you read a book or the way you wear your sunglasses. The trait can come from your father or mother. Many a time a person’s speaking style is a reflection of one’s mother. Similarly, the way one looks from the corner of his eyes is a reflection of his father. There are numerous actions that you have copied from your parents. You just need to observe it.

After all, it’s one of the best gifts you inherited from your parents. So cheers to them! They passed it on to us without writing a will.

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