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THE JOURNEY
19
It was for the first time that Bapaji had been so ill. In 1971, he had gone through a surgery for prostrate gland and recovered well. The doctors, who attended on him, had observed that he had recovered remarkably fast for his age. However, after the surgery he could not climb the Palitana Hill, where he used to go regularly on pilgrimage. He had to be taken up in a dolly (a contraption like a matt seat which had 2 persons to carry it), which he detested. During his illness, I chose to be by his bedside almost all the time. I hardly went to Shree Ram Mills or Batliboi during those days.
Navratra festival was on around the time Bapaji was ill, and there was a lot of singing and dancing at our neighbours! I remember, one night went out to my neighbours' and shouted at them to stop the music and the garba as it was well past midnight. When I returned, I suddenly felt breathless and rushed to my first-floor bedroom. It was my first brush with angina pain.
After being totally confined to bed for almost six months, Bapaji passed away in November 1979. For me it was like a protective umbrella being taken away from over my head.
My father's death... it was like a protective umbrella being taken away from over my head...
'I must mention about Shantilal Ghelabhai Jhaveri (whom we called Babubhai), son of one of our business associates, Ghelabhai Jhaveri, who had been living in Antwerp since 1921 (he lived there till 1944). Ghelabhai was sent to Antwerp by Bapaji for purchase of diamonds for our firm in Mumbai. Babubhai had come to live with us when he was a boy. The care and concern with which Bapaji brought up and groomed Babubhai is a remarkable example of how he could rise above personal predilections in discharging a responsibility he had taken upon himself.
Keep your valuables in safe custody, lest you tempt somebody and create suspicion - My father
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