I was quite lucky: although my dad worked a lot, whenever he was free, he would play sports with me and my brother, and I can't wait to do that with my child.
When I was a kid, I played sports a lot. My mom and dad were divorced, but I hung out in the neighborhood a lot, and it was all about sports. I would be out all day on the sand lot or on the hockey rink. My dad would take me to baseball games, but he worked so hard, and he would always fall asleep.
Well, my dad was into music, but he wasn't into me being into music. In my house when I was a kid, when I was real young, my dad wanted us all to play sports, and we were jock-like. We had a lot of money. And my brother was sort of the light of our family, and he was a good athlete. And I wasn't a very good athlete, but I tried to be. And then when I was 15 my dad went bankrupt, and we moved to Houston. And I went with him, but then I went back to Portland.
Don't force your kids into sports. I never was. To this day, my dad has never asked me to go play golf. I ask him. It's the child's desire to play that matters, not the parent's desire to have the child play. Fun. Keep it fun.
I keep "leave me alone, I'm busy " pretending to work sign with me because my dad once told me to find a job that you would do for free and I would do this job for free. But I would be a performer for free because that's all I've ever loved to do. I've worked so hard to get to the point where work doesn't feel like work. So when I come to work, I'm actually coming to play - I'm coming to recess. So, when you see me, leave me alone, I'm busy ... pretending to work.
I've been so lucky to have my mum and dad because they've worked to give my brother and I everything. We're not spoilt children.
My parents are hard workers and they showed me what it means to work hard. I would give a lot of the credit to my parents for where I'm at and who I am. They both worked multiple jobs to make sure me and my siblings were able to play sports and have a home. I'll never forget how hard they worked and that always motivates me.
The worst advice I ever received from my dad was to play by the book. My old man used to flip out whenever I would try to branch out and do something different. Although he didn't do it on purpose, he really held me back in the beginning.
I think sometimes people haven't really quite worked out how to peg me, or exactly what it is that I do. In that way, I feel lucky that I can get to play different things because they haven't quite decided what I am.
It started with my parents, my dad who taught me growing up, my brother who played as well. I spent a lot of time with him. Then, getting into the pro side, there have been a lot of people who have worked with me along the years.
My mom and dad worked very hard to give me the best chance in - not just in golf but in life. You know, I was an only child, you know, my dad worked three jobs at one stage. My mom worked night shifts in a factory.
The single aim of my life is that every child is:
free to be a child,
free to grow and develop,
free to eat, sleep, see daylight,
free to laugh and cry,
free to play,
free to learn, free to go to school, and above all, free to dream.
I don't think I really knew how fit I was when I was a kid. I rode with my dad quite long distances and I've been racing since the age of nine, so we did a lot of sport growing up. My earliest memories of my dad are watching him race, so it was inevitable when we were old enough that my brother and I would get on bikes.
My oldest brother and my middle brother would always beat me up and take the ball from me. I used to cry a lot, so I used to come in here and get my dad. He used to be on my team, so he used to hold them down and let me score the basket.
I am very close to my brother Ramesh Babu. When my father was away for shootings, my brother would take care of me, and I am very close to him, and yes, Dad's always special. He used to call me and enquire about my film's progress. Whenever I deliver a hit, I can see a glow on my father's face.
If I'm half as good a dad to my two kids as my dad has been to me and my brother and sister, my kids will be lucky.
My dad was just a little trailer trash white dude that worked his tail off, didn't have a dad. He started working at 14, didn't get to play sports. He dedicated his life to his kids to let us live our dreams.