Pratap Bhogilal Journey Through Life

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

Page 23

THE JOURNEY
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him off as well as my grandfather. Vaid Jugatram advised him to change his diet to milk and fruits if he wished to avoid surgery. Bapaji did that and it worked. So he stuck to the same diet till the end of his life. In contrast, both Bha (my grandfather) and I loved good food! So did the rest of the family.
My father firmly believed that wealth should be treated as a trust, never flaunted or wasted
Bha was a vocal person unlike Bapaji, who spoke only when required. He was more demonstrative too. He was very attached to my mother. There was a lot of kinship, love and harmony in the house in spite of the fact that neither my father nor I were demonstrative. Goodbyes and hellos were never accompanied by hugging and kissing. We followed the Indian way of bowing with folded hands as a mark of respect or touching the feet for blessings. Love was understood and taken for granted, never demonstrated.
There was no exhibitionism or flaunting of wealth. My father firmly believed that wealth should be treated as a trust. He lived by the maxim,'Work like a donkey, eat like a king. He also believed that the exterior of one's house should always be sober even if the interior is plush. However, there was no lack of hospitality. Friends and relatives would drop by on and off to live with us. Besides my three brothers and six sisters - five of them were born after we moved into the Andheri bungalow - there were other children too of distant relatives living with us.
My mother's sister, a child widow, lived with us till she died in her 70s. There was also Manikaka, whom we called 'uncle' out of respect even though he was no relative of ours. A diamond broker, he was alone in Mumbai and would often visit my father's office. Bapaji took a liking for him and invited him over to live with us. He would run errands for my mother in the mornings and then take a train to town to attend to his brokerage business. He would shop for mangoes, chestnuts etc in town and put them in Bapaji's car in the evenings. He lived with us for many years. There were other distant relatives too, who were not financially
Seeing people suffering from misery, let your heart bleed and let your eyes be filled with tears with compassion - Pujya Chitrabhanuji