Pratap Bhogilal Journey Through Life

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

Page 97

THE JOURNEY | 91
and promised to ensure that she was not in any way affected. Ba had never seen a lobster before. She was naturally horrified.
In 1955 I was on one of my routine trips to Europe and the USA with Bhagwati, when a nerve wrecking incident took place. We were sailing from Le Havre (in north-western France) to New York on the French Ocean Liner, SS Ile de France, which was considered one of the largest and most beautifully decorated luxury ships on the Atlantic Run at the time. It weighed around 55,000 tons. Just 18 hours out of New York, we hit a typhoon and the waves came right up to the top deck and we could barely see even 100 feet ahead at midday. It became so dark and the ship was rolling and pitching so heavily that most of the passengers took ill. Terrified, Bhagwati told me that we would not see the land again. I pacified her, "Whatever is ordained will happen, so why worry?"
There were just a few of us - I think about 20-25- in the restaurant for dinner that night, and it was very difficult to eat as the crockery and cutlery were flying all over. We had a hard time keeping them in place. After dinner, we went to the first class lounge and the mood was very depressing. Suddenly, Maurice Chevalier, the famous French actor-singer, appeared in the lounge and to divert our attention and enthuse us, began singing. He sang for about 45 minutes. It was quite a treat besides being a great gesture on his part. Eventually, we did reach New York though 22 hours late. The ship had to skirt the tornado to avoid the central point.
In 1956 I sent Chitra to England with my wife to join the ladies' college at Cheltanham. Since my father did not allow them to fly, they had to sail around the Cape of Good Hope - the Suez Canal had been closed - in a Polish ship called MS Batory, which was not very good. It took them almost a month to reach London. Later, Darshana and Dharini also joined Chitra in England.
In 1958 when Bhagwati and I were in Europe on business, we took our daughters - Chitra, Dharini and brother Mahesh and sister Vimla and Dini on a holiday to Hofgastein in Austria, which is three kilometers away from the famous health resort Bad Gastein. We had hired a villa there. It was a memorable holiday, especially since we could attend the music festival
You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear - General Douglas MacArthur