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THE JOURNEY
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born in May 1949. I was very fond of all my children though I could never demonstrate my feelings for them readily. Bhagwati always felt that I was partial towards our eldest daughter Chitra and pampered her more than our other children, but I did not agree with her. I don't think I ever differentiated between my children. I have always tried to give them the best life I could, never came in the way of their marrying whoever they chose to, defying conventions. They might have found me a bit aloof and distant because I wasn't participating in their upbringing hands-on. I was very busy during their growing up years, and since Bhagwati was handling them extremely well, I didn't see the need to interfere. That didn't mean I was any less concerned about them.
Academic education apart, the rigorous training that Bapaji put me through in my youth and the discipline and values he inculcated in me, stood me in good stead right through my working life. It helped me command the kind of respect I did at work and in my interactions with people socially and as part of my business in different societies and cultures the world over.
Bhagwati enjoyed good health throughout until her knees gave away. Bhagwati had osteoarthritis problem in her early 60s and she first had an operation by Dr.K.T.Dholakia, the famous orthopedic surgeon. However, although the operation was successful, the effect of the operation did not last long and after a few years she again had the same trouble on the same knee and Dr. Dholakia suggested that she should have a knee replacement. As such, the knee replacement operation was done in Bombay Hospital but in those days the technique and the after care was not as good in India as now and the operation though successful, she could not bend her knees to the full extent possible. As such, when the arthritis trouble recurred on the other knee, we decided that it was better to have the operation done in New York by Dr. Ranawat at the special orthopedic hospital in New York. Dr. Ranawat, who I believe was a student of Dr. Dholakia in the earlier days, was the inventor of the knee replacement technique and in fact Dr. Dholakia had adapted that technology from him.
It is with narrow-souled people as with narrow-necked bottles:
the less they have in them, the more noise they make in pouring it out - Alexander Pope
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