Page 73 - JyotipunjEng
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made us feel the shade of a dense banyan tree and gave us cool.
Not only this, he made us feel the massiveness of the banyan
tree.
Pappaji became a dental surgeon in Kolkata. There is a class
of gentry in Kolkata’s way of living that is still influenced by
English way of living. Pappaji lived his youth in Kolkata and
did his practice. He returned to Rajkot and started his
professional life as a doctor. Even in Rajkot, he expressed his
youth of Kolkata. You could not miss his western influence. His
life was replete with daily evening visits to the club, playing
cards and smoke of cigarette flying all about him. If we peep
into the life of Sardar Patel, we would find something of the
sort. He was a Barrister by profession, he visited the bar, played
cards in the club, and mimicked the freedom fighters while
puffing out dense cigarette smoke, and he cut fun at even
Mahatma Gandhi. It was a natural way of life for Sardar Patel.
However, a touch from Mahatma Gandhi transformed the life
of Sardar Patel like never before. He sacrificed ‘self’ for the sake
of freedom. ‘The words of Mahatma Gandhi were the ultimate
words for him. He displayed this commitment and resolve and
lived it. This transformation in Sardar Patel was like a pleasant
surprise for his bar associates. We can find some such
fundamental transformation in the life of Dr. Doshi – Pappaji.
He lived a life of club under the western influence in Kolkata,
but a touch from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh transformed
him wonderfully. Doctor Saheb moulded himself according to
the ideals of the Sangh in no time. He kept on sacrificing
everything of his for the sake of Sangh’s culture, Sangh’s traits
and Sangh’s work. He kept moulding his ‘self’. At that time, the
prestige of the doctor was known as the excellence of social life.
In such a period, he parted away from the prestige of ‘self’, and
moulded himself into a true, devoted, dedicated Swayamsevak
in order to establish the prestige of the Sangh. This task he
carried all his life.
Fragile and thin body. Thrifty in speech, weak body, yet
experiencing the Sangh every moment. No one ever needed to
explain any form of the Sangh after he met Doctor Saheb –