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Chapter 27. Activities in India
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industries. The more educated are in Government services and professional vocations such as medicine, engineering, and the like. When the conditions in East Africa became difficult after the countries got their independence, many Oshwals went back to India and some of them settled down in Mumbai and started industries and general trading.
Mumbai Mahajanwadi: As Mumbai was the gateway for travelers going to and fro from East Africa a search for a rest house was started. Volunteers would go to the port to meet travelers and take them to the rest house also to take others to their ship. In 1939 A.D. an association was formed called the Halari Visa Oshwal Association under the chairmanship of Govindji Shamji Dodhia of the village of Khara Beraja.
There were community houses already in existence in Nairobi, Mombasa, Thika and Jamnagar. As the traffic of travelers was increasing considerably from Mumbai and also more people were coming to Mumbai to settle down, a decision was made to acquire a community house in Mumbai. A fund was established. Most people donated money generously. As this was not sufficient to buy a property, a building with four rooms located in Dadar was rented.
As the population as well as traffic of travelers was increasing, the rented place was not enough to accommodate them or to hold social functions. In 1951 A.D. a property was bought on Ranade Road, Dadar. But due to unforeseen circumstances it could not be developed into a community place. In 1961 A.D. a parcel of land was purchased at the cost of 125000 rupees. As there was need to raise more money a separate fund was created. The community received 500,000 rupees from East Africa and it raised locally 143,000 rupees. Loans were obtained from members of the community. The money from the sale of property in Worley and Ranade
