Pratap Bhogilal Journey Through Life

Author(s): Rauf Ahmed
Publisher: Bhupendra Singh Anand

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PRATAP BHOGILAL - JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE
During one of the flights, we happened to be sitting apart. After a while
e up to where I was seated and asked me in his demanding tone, 'Why have you not come to look me up?'
I said, 'You seemed perfectly okay. Anyway, why don't you sit here in my place and talk to this gentleman here? You might find him interesting. The flight was yet to take off and I had been chatting with the gentleman sitting next to me. My father sat down. Sometimes he lets me bully him over little things!
After some time, when I exchanged seats with him again, the American gentleman, whose name or face I don't remember now, said to me -'your father is a very interesting man and has travelled extensively. Someone should write about him. He was in Japan just after the Second World War during US occupation.'
His words set me thinking. Yes, why not get a book written on him? After we returned to India a month and a half later, I asked my father if he would like it if I wrote a book on him. He said 'yes'in his usual candid way.
Today I am extremely happy that lembarked on the mission.When I began, I was hoping to collect material on my father and getting someone to put it together. Two attempts proved unsuccessful and finally, I thought I was the best person to do the job since I know him so closely and well.
There are nuances in personal relationships which may not be easy for others to fathom. My father is very much like his late father - my grandfather. A man of outstanding character, yet seriously misunderstood by the near and the dear ones. Nevertheless, like his father, my father has taken everything in his stride and carried on, pursuing his goals without losing focus or getting into arguments. He believes that explanations are futile where there is no scope for a resolution.
There are many facets to his personality that are awe-inspiring. One was his relationship with his father. The esteem in which he held him was simply admirable. So was his love for him. When his father took ill, he
Let noble thoughts come to us from every side - Rig Veda 1-89-1