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38
PRATAP BHOGILAL - JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE
school, St. Joseph's Convent. He returned home for a holiday, developed typhoid and died. He was just 12 years old at that time.
Then came Susheela, who celebrated her 90th birthday recently, followed by Bhagwati, who, by an interesting coincidence, married a person by the name of Pratap - Pratapchand Shah! Though his family belonged to Patan, they were into cloth business in Rajkot. My next sister Raman, MA in English, was also given in marriage outside Patan. Her husband's family was into diamond trade. My brother Arvind, who was younger to me by about 16 years, died young in an air crash in 1950 on his way to Paris. A bomb exploded when the flight he was in took off from Cairo, Egypt.
My sister Vimla went to college in Delhi. After graduation, she went to London to do her FRCS. On her return from the UK she got married, and has been doing a lot of social and charitable work.
My next sister Jailina (Jayshree) is a MBBS from Bombay. She married a man of her own choice outside the Jain community. Her husband, Dr Suresh Store, went on to become a leading chest specialist in Mumbai.He was a talented musician too, who could play the sitar well. Unfortunately,
e died young. In fact, Jaylina was first engaged at the age of six. After some time, Bapaji got to know that the boy was suffering from epilepsy and broke her engagement. Now in her late 70's, she works part-time in a doctor's clinic.
My sister Dinbala is a PhD in Chemistry from Glasgow University, UK. She had an arranged marriage - a late one by Indian standards - outside the Jain community. Her two daughters hold doctorates too.
The youngest was my brother Mahesh. He was the most handsome and intelligent of all. He also chose his own life partner, again a non-Jain. Unfortunately, he died in his early forties.
Debt is the worst poverty - M. G. Lichtwer
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