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PRATAP BHOGILAL - JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE
next to, had a defective bearing. Ashok asked me if I thought there was something wrong with the machine. I said 'no! In fact, neither of us could hear anything out of the ordinary. But we did get the machine checked and discovered that a bearing had, in fact, worn out. He was that sharp even about the working of machines!
"Bapaji (Pratapbhai's father Bhogilal Leherchand) used to sit in the big hall on the first floor of Shree Ram Mills, where all the clerical staff sat. It was not air-conditioned. He sat facing the staff, and you could barely see him in his low chair. If you ever entered whistling, he would catch you. However, Pratapbhai, who was the Managing Director, sat in a large airconditioned office.
"Bapaji used to distribute two silver one-rupee coins to all those who attended the Laxmi Puja during Diwali, which used to be held at their office in Zaveri Bazaar. Pratapbhai and his son Nirmal have continued the tradition, except that now they distribute five-rupee coins. I have been a regular at their annual puja.
"Among Sindhis, when a child is born, a venerable elder is invited to hold the child. When my son Aneesh was born, my father invited Bapaji to hold him at this special ceremony. Bapaji had been like a Godfather to my father, and I treat Pratapbhai as an elder brother.
"I remember meeting Pratapbhai after he had put Batliboi back on track.He didn't let it to go the BIFR way. He had invested a lot of money to achieve it. Most businessmen in his situation would have withdrawn money instead of pumping in more. His approach showed his character. He was never afraid of going against the tide to accomplish what he wanted to
"A year after my father's death in 1994, I went to Switzerland to meet some of his old connections in the cotton business. One of them, Mr Cartrelo, mentioned to me that when he had visited India many years ago, he had attended a Diwali Puja at the Bhogilals' Zaveri Bazar shop and received two one-rupee coins from Bapaji as part of the ritual. He had been carrying those coins in his wallet for years as a good luck charm
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