For most of us, our dads were never the ones to say “I love you” every day. They pay their tuition on time, put food on the table and quietly shoulder their family responsibilities. That’s the thought entrepreneur and author Ankur Warikoo captured in a Father’s Day post that resonated with thousands of people online.In a post shared on Friday ahead of Father’s Day on June 21, Warikoo wrote that many older generation fathers rarely hug their children, not because they lack affection, but because they express love differently.“For most of us, our father rarely hugged us. Maybe he was a cold man. He’s probably not,” he said.“Then one fine day when we got our first job, our first car, our first $100,000, our first house, our first gift to him – he put his hand on our shoulder and stayed there for 10 seconds. That was the hug,” he wrote.Warikoo ended his post with a note that many readers found particularly moving: “Our father may not have given you words. But he has given you everything but words. When you become a father, remember to add these words.”The post resonated because it reflected a reality familiar to many Indian families, where fathers often show care through actions rather than emotional conversations. For Warikoo, however, this message is more than just a general observation. This is rooted in his experience growing up with his father, Ashok Warikoo.Over the years, Waricou has spoken openly about the financial hardships his family has faced and the lessons he learned from his father’s experiences. Earlier this year, he described his father in a post:“Dad was a loser in the eyes of every financial influencer. But he is the father of a child! ” he wrote.Variku admits that his father made financial mistakes and that the family’s life was often closer to financial uncertainty than many people realize.“We are not poor. But we have nothing left,” he wrote.One story he shared dates back to 2003, when his parents, both 50 years old, decided to buy their first home after renting for nearly two decades. They bought a house in Faridabad with the help of a home loan. Just over a year later, his father lost his job.It was difficult to find a job at that age, so he started a business. Starting the business struggled, and the family eventually found themselves struggling to pay the loan installments.Waricou recalled getting a call from his father asking if he had any extra money. “Yes, Dad, I have money now,” he replied. According to Variku, he could hear the relief in his father’s voice. “Thank you. Thank you so much,” his father said. This memory stayed with him for many years. “In that moment, I hated money because of what its scarcity did to us,” he later wrote.The family had faced difficulties earlier. In another post, Warikoo recalled that his father lost his job in the mid-1990s, leaving the family in financial difficulty. There was a time when money was scarce, debt piled up, and both parents made sacrifices to keep the family running.Yet when Variku looks back, he doesn’t remember those years as a story of financial failure. Instead, he sees them as lessons in perseverance. “He taught me what it means to survive and persevere. Be forever grateful,” he wrote.Maybe that’s why his latest Father’s Day message resonated so widely. This is not a tribute to a perfect father or a perfect role model. It’s a reminder that many of the ways fathers express love are easily overlooked while growing up.They may feel uncomfortable with hugs, emotional speeches, or heartfelt conversations. But for many families, they show up every day, experience setbacks, quietly take responsibility, and let their children dream of a better life.Sometimes, as Warikoo writes, all love is concentrated in 10 seconds of silence with a hand on a shoulder.
