Kapil Dev's NGO celebrates father-daughter bond

Fathers and daughters have a very special bonding and each page of a coffee table book to be released on Sunday is the story of a father's love for his daughter, says former India cricket captain Kapil Dev, whose NGO Khushii has taken the initiative to launch the publication.

"Fathers and daughters have a very special bonding not just now but that's how we've always talked about it. No words can explain how happy I feel about it (the book)," Kapil Dev told IANS of "Timeless Portraits of Love".

"You can ask every father about his relation with the daughter, it's wonderful, it's enjoyable.

"Each page in the book is the story of a father's love for his daughter, each photograph captures the quiet gleam of an abiding relationship, in turn inspire other fathers of daughters who might till date have imagined that they have been burdened by fate," said Kapil.

"This book is sure to bring joy to daughters far beyond those who grace its pages," he added.

Proceeds from the sales of the book will go towards educating underprivileged girls, as "at Khushii, we continue the relentless pursuit of our goal of educating girl children and gender equality," Kapil explained.

The fathers in the book include President Pranab Mukherjee, Actor Chiranjeevi, director Mahesh Bhatt, art impresario Aman Nath, industrialist Vikram Kirloskar, medical honcho Naresh Trehan and Kapil Dev himself.

Kapil then struck a personal note, saying of his daughter Ameya, saying: "We had a child after very long and she is beautiful."

The photographers include Dabboo Ratnani, Jatin Kampani, Suresh Natrajan, Rafique Sayed, Rohan Shreshta, Saify Naqvi and Sudhir Ramachandran.

"It's very difficult for somebody to collect photographs, to work for hours and hours on end. The day you see the book coming up, you feel very happy that at least somebody will benefit out of it," Kapil said.

"Timeless Portraits of Love is a unique endeavour by Khushii to capture a moment of time for eternity. The Coffee table book features portraits of some of the most eminent fathers with their daughters shot by the country's renowned photographers," said Kapil.

He said he was thankful to the people behind the book adding, "it is a new idea. Through this, we want more and more people to know what we are doing."

--IANS

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