Home | Archive | Travel | Videos | About

	story Harriet Ann Dy   photographs Steve Uhraney Family and faith are running themes at Jake Dheer’s home located on a quiet street in Mississauga’s Credit Woodlands neighbourhood. A multi-awarded station manager for Rogers TV for Dufferin-Peel region and a respected community leader, Jake shares the 3200 sq ft house with his wife, Geeta, children, Arjun, 9, and Sonia, 14; and his parents. His 99-year-old grandmother used to live with the family until she passed on as well. “There’s a whole lotta love not just in this house, but in the neighbourhood as well,” he says. Born in India, his family moved to Canada in 1974. They settled for a while in Kitchener, before moving to Mississauga in 1981. Jake and his parents settled at their current residence in 1988. “Our neighbours have seen my family grow, and we’ve enjoyed watching their kids grow up as well.” In the living room, a guitar and an upright piano share equal prominence with a daybed. All three pieces reflect the comfortable multi-generational co-existence that is hallmark of the Dheer household. His kids play the guitar and piano; his late grandmother spent many hours relaxing on the daybed. Jake himself recalls many lazy weekends on the white family couch, enjoying simple pleasures like listening to the kids play musical instruments, and catching up with family. A cooking enthusiast, Jake can also be found in the kitchen, often doing breakfast duty. He makes toast, eggs and hash browns for his family, and finds it difficult to say no to a cup of freshly made latte from his DeLonghi Espresso machine, a recent acquisition. “My wife says I don’t use it as much as I paid for it though,” he jokes. In the summers, he takes over grilling duty as well, throwing vegetarian burger patties, paneer, Portobello mushrooms, or sweet corn on the barbie in the family’s large backyard. On this wintry Saturday afternoon however, Arjun is busy playing a computer game at an electronic workstation tucked beside the formal dining room table. Now filled with kids’ schoolbooks, it doubles as their study area. At the family room, Sonia watches a movie on a vintage RCA television set, a souvenir from Dheer’s own teenage years. “We’re a very practical family; nothing is too precious in this house,” he says. Jake has a small home office in the basement, but it is predominantly a games room, with Ping-Pong and air hockey tables. Although he works in broadcast media, the Dheer family spends as much time scheduling family movie nights on their Sony 61” HDTV, as they do playing board games and carrom, a traditional Indian tabletop game. The game is similar to crokinole, the Canadian strategy game. This family’s hectic life, however, takes a pause at the temple room on the second floor. A sense of tranquility permeates this corner of the house. There are images of Hindu deities and a copy of the Bhavagad Gita, a sacred Hindu scripture, wrapped in pink and gold fabric. The book was one of the few things that Jake’s parents brought them when they migrated to Canada from India by way of Uganda. This room is where Jake steps away from his hectic professional life to contemplate and meditate on the Bhavgad Gita’s readings. Growing up, he remembers being prodded to study the verses by his grandfather, but it was only after a trip to the Himalayas in northern India (where his family is originally from) in the 90s that he appreciated the value of the book in his ongoing quest to elevate his knowledge, senses and soul. He starts this routine in May, on his birthday, and finishes the 18 chapters through August, on Lord Krishna’s birthday. He starts his week reading the book. “It is a religious book, but I also read it to learn more about philosophy,” he says. Indeed, the temple room might be where Jake finds his centre, but everything about his home evokes the dedication he has to his multiple roles as husband, father and son. GL	Jake plays carrom with his family Geeta, Arjun and Sonia