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PRATAP BHOGILAL - JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE
in Des Plaines in Illinois, USA, for styrene. I also had a meeting with the Commonwealth Development Finance Corporation (CDFC) in London. On the ship across the Atlantic on the way to New York,I met Helena Rubinstein, the famous Beautician.
As I was keen to visit a styrene manufacturing plant, Universal Oil arranged for me to visit one in Odessa, Texas. They sent one of their executives with me on a train. We arrived at Odessa in the morning. That same evening we were to take a train to Greenville via Knoxville. Odessa, which is in the middle of a desert, was unbearably hot, the temperature rising to 130-140° F. I was exhausted just going through the plant in about an hour. We heaved a sigh of relief on reaching an air-conditioned restaurant for lunch. We took a train to Knoxville in the afternoon, from where we had to take another train to Greenville. Though we were expected to reach Knoxville by 6 pm, our train was late. Just as we were entering Knoxville station, we saw the connecting train to Greenville leaving. Since I had appointments the next morning at Greenville and my companion from Universal Oil had to fly back to Chicago, we hired a car to make it fast, and my American friend drove. On the way there was heavy rain and we lost our way. Instead of the expected three hours,we took six hours and reached Greenville at 1 am. My friend took a flight to Chicago at 7 am.
Alone in Europe, 1965
In 1965, I made a trip to Europe alone. The ship docked at Massina in Sicily in the morning and I had to take a train from there to reach Vienna via Rome. The purser of the ship advised me not to take my bags to the city - 1 had planned on a sightseeing tour of the city - instead pick them up before the ship departed in the evening and go straight to the railway station. He warned that there were too many pick pockets on the prowl!
I picked up my bags in the evening and went straight to the railway station. Just as I was boarding the coach, I could feel somebody pressing my hips. As I turned to check, I realised that my wallet was gone! I looked around and saw a man running along the train on the platform. Dumping my bags in the corridor of the coach, I ran after him. As soon as he saw me, he boarded
Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary - Robert Louis Stevenson
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