Pratap Bhogilal Journey Through Life

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

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PRATAP BHOGILAL - JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE
claiming to be from a noble background came to our Diamond Pedhi to purchase diamonds. My father showed him some of the diamond packets. After seeing the diamonds, the person started to leave saying he would come back the next day. My father counted the diamonds in the large packet he had shown him and found one diamond short. So he called the person back and told him bluntly, 'You are a thief, you have taken a diamond,' and slapped him. He asked him to take off his sherwani. As he started taking off his sherwani, a diamond dropped from his sleeve. Without taking any further action, my father allowed him to go. Such was his instinct and courage. My grandfather was aghast when my father. slapped the customer, but was relieved when he saw the diamond falling out of his sleeve.
I remember, those days many WIPs would visit our house, including political giants like Mahatma Gandhi, Rajagopalachari and Acharya Kripalani. There were also Sadhus and Sadhvis. Sadhvi Maharaj Mrugavatishri, had come over with her mother, who was also a Sadhvi, and later with her own group of Sadhvis. In the '20s, '30s and the '40s, many Jain Sadhus and Sadhvis (monks and nuns) would come and stay with us on their way to Mumbai. In those days very few Upashrayas (residential accommodation for travelling monks and nuns) were in existence. The Jain Sadhus and Sadhvis, who generally went on padyatra (travelling by foot) from place to place for eight months of the year, would stay at one place for four months during monsoon wherever the Jain community was at hand. Jains monks and nuns don't go on Padyatras during the rainy season to avoid trampling upon the insects that come out in large numbers.
Bapaji kept himself abreast of the happenings in the country, political and economic. He was deeply concerned about the country's welfare. When he sensed that things were going wrong or were likely to, he would send long telegrams to the Prime Minister and other concerned authorities, making suggestions. He never minced words in calling a spade a spade. He told me, Babu, Moglai gai tagare (Moguls used to create new buildings – tagare means the vessel in which you carry the mixture of bricks and mortar), Peshwai nagare (nagare is the drum
Credit Card: A way of saying buy-buy to your money – Jug Suraiya