had joined Congress Sevadal18 and was becoming more na- tionalistic and service-oriented and politically-active. It was quite a change for a young boy who grew up in a very con- servative, religious family. On June 15, 1948, I left Gomta at the age of 11. I enrolled at Patel Vidyarthi Ashram (Patel Students Boarding) in Gondal, eight miles from Gomta, to study at Sagramji High School. For a while, I was saddened for leaving my home, but I was with many of my friends from Gomta. Little did I know at the time that this was the begin- Chapter Two: ning of some of the best years of my life. Maturing in Gondal, the best years of life

hen a group of ten new students arrived from Gomta, it was the largest and the youngest group of Wstudents from one village at Patel Vidyarthi Ashram (Patel Boarding). All of us had completed fifth or sixth grade at Gomta Elementary School. Despite this, when we arrived in Gondal, we were allowed to enroll only in fifth grade at Sagramji High School (SHS). The reason was that Gomta Elementary School did not offer an English course in any grade and SHS offered English from the fifth grade, so the administrator, because of a state policy, would not allow us to join the students who had one or two years of English. In the Indian education system, they did not allow students to take one subject separately. If you skipped, failed or did not study a required subject, you failed the entire grade. Thus, without having taken an English class, we were required to begin in the fifth grade. This had been an established prac- tice for many years before we arrived in Gondal, but our par- ents either were never told by anyone or else they knew we 18 Sevadal means service corps. It was a service branch of the Indian would have to repeat, but figured that more mature a stu- National Congress, AKA The Congress Party. dent gets, the easier it would be to study in a high school

15 Marshall Plan versus The Great Society Maturing in Gondal, the best years of life especially when living away from home. In 1948 many of and I worked on the farms for many years, until Labhuben us lost two years of progress in school because they would got married in 1951. Then Girdhar started to work with us. not allow us to enroll in the seventh grade and take English We worked on the farm during non-school hours, during separately. At the time we felt as though we were losing two pre-monsoon days, preparing for the planting peanuts, and years of our life, but the plus side of this situation was that, during Diwali vacation harvesting peanut crop. When I left except English, I was way ahead of the other local students Gomta in 1948, my sister Bhagu was 5 years old, my brother in my class. It gave me tremendous self-confidence early in Gordhan was just a toddler, and the youngest, Natu, was an my education. infant. I missed all of them. Bhagavatsinhji Patel Vidyarthi Ashram, named for the My room window in the “Boarding”19 was facing Station late of Gondal, was a unique place to grow up in all Road. Every morning when the train came from Gomta, aspects of life. There were about 100 to120 boys, ranging in I would look at the people from Gomta walking on the road the age from ten to nineteen, in grades five to eleven. They and cry some more. I felt like I was behind prison bars (all came mostly from the old Gondal state, but some came from windows had iron grills) and they were walking in the free Jamnagar and Junagadh districts. Nearly one third of the world. I thought my parents did not want me in the house students were from Gomta, Moti Marad, Kolki, Bhayavadar, because I fought a lot with my brothers and that is why they Upleta, and Pipalia. The annual expenditure to live at the sent me away. I wanted to quit school and go home. But the boarding house was Rs. 180, or $50 per then prevailing ex- house master, Balubhai, who had seen this behavior many change rates. All students attended Sagramji High School, times before, would not allow me to leave. In the next few an all-boys school, or one of its two satellite campuses across days, I settled down. I started to like living and playing with the street from the main campus. The total student popu- the other boys. Then it became all fun and happy times. I lation of the school was between 900 and 1,000, including was doing well in my studies, partly because most of it was the students from other boarding houses, the city of Gondal, repetition of what I had studied in Gomta. The only new and a few who commuted from nearby towns. There was no subject was Hindi, not English, as we had expected. We were tuition fee for high school students. taught Hindi because we were an Independent nation now Patel Boarding had 14 rooms in the two buildings plus and that was our accepted national language. The subject a kitchen and a dining room. Out of these, two rooms were of English was removed from the course of study for fifth taken up by the house master’s family. Our house master, grade in 1948, from sixth grade in 1949, and from seventh Balubhai Patel had three daughters and two sons, so they grade in 1950. The state of Saurashtra (which later became were pretty crowded into their small quarters. The stu- part of ) was the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi. He dents were also packed tightly, as many as twelve per room. was the leader of our successful independence movement, After only one week, I started to miss my home, my parents, 19 Boarding, in this book refers to Patel Boarding, whose legal name brothers, and sisters. I cried a lot and wanted to go home. was Bhagvatsinhji Patel Vidyarthi Ashram. It was a dormitory for the When I was growing up in Gomta my life revolved around Patel boys and had no classrooms, library or any other formal teaching Labhuben, Vallabhbhai, and Girdhar. Labhuben, Vallabhbhai, facilities.

16 17 Marshall Plan versus The Great Society Maturing in Gondal, the best years of life and nationalism was strong in our area. Since English was Mahatma Gandhi’s nephew, Shamaldas Gandhi, was the a remnant of the British Raj, teaching of English became civilian leader who had played an important part in the state unacceptable in our state. of Junagadh merging with India, before Nawab of Junagadh Saurashtra had become one state out of the union of 202 escaped to Pakistan. The younger Gandhi was the head of princely states, with a population of about four million in Arzi Haqumat, the government in exile of Junagadh. He, and 1948. The largest city was with a population of about many people in Saurashtra, expected him to be the Chief one hundred thousand. There was an election for the state Minister of Saurashtra. The candidates for elections were assembly in 1948. Many former rulers and princes ran for the picked by the party “High Command” in New Delhi. There election. They were determined to remain in power and took were no primaries to select the candidates. Shamaldas the help of outlaws and had many people, mostly from Patel Gandhi was not given a ticket to run for the state assembly. caste, murdered or disfigured and mutilated. Soon after the The decision was supposedly made by Jawaharlal Nehru, not creation of Saurashtra, there were two successive gangs of to let any member of Gandhi family enter the politics. outlaws, who moved through villages with little or no resist- There was another danger for Patels and Congress Party ance from law enforcement. These outlaws were supported supporters in the late 1940s. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh by former rulers in an attempt to take revenge on Patels for (RSS), an organization allegedly behind the assassination of supporting the Congress Party and being of the same caste Mahatma Gandhi, was still strong. In Gondal they used to as India’s Deputy Prime Minister Sardar20 Vallabhbhai Patel, harass and beat up the Congress Party supporters. Many who took away their states and their power. One of the older students from our Ashram were beat up by the RSS gang was killed by police in 1949 and the other escaped to gangs just outside the school ground while some of us fifth Pakistan in 1950. graders watched. All of this was very demoralizing. The The Congress Party candidates won easily in 1948 elec- Patels in particular were targets of outlaws and RSS. The tion, though some former rulers, such as Gondal’s Prince outlaws were strong in rural areas and the RSS was strong Vikram Singh Jadeja among them, did manage to get elect- in the cities. There was no apparent political or tactical con- ed to the state general assembly. Uchhrangrai Navalshankar nection between RSS and the outlaws. RSS was a disciplined Dhebar (Dhebarbhai) was Saurashtra’s first Chief Minister. national organization with a goal of strong Hindu India. This He was known as an honest and kind person. He was easily organization did not want India to become a sectarian state, accessible to people and visited the state’s many towns and but rather to be a Hindu republic; no doubt this was in re- villages often to meet with people and get their input for sponse to England’s granting the Muslim League its own the state government. land, Pakistan. The RSS had branches and training centers in most Indian cities. In contrast, the outlaws were murderers, 20 Sardar means a Leader. It was an honorary title given to Vallabhbhai who got encouragement, financial help and weapons from Patel by Mahatma Gandhi during the Salt march Satyagraha of 1930s for Patel’s leadership role. There are millions of Patels in Gujarat and around some former rulers. The outlaws were confined to the State the world. They are not necessarily related. The surname is like Smiths in of Saurashtra. the west.

18 19 Marshall Plan versus The Great Society Maturing in Gondal, the best years of life

The largest in Saurashtra, before the in- except during the school vacation. I enjoyed every moment dependence, was Junagadh with nearly 1,000 towns and of it and made the most out of it. cities. A few of the smaller states were made of only one When I finished fifth grade at my new school, I was first village. The former rulers of these states felt that their legiti- in my class academically and second in all of the nine fifth- mate kingdoms were seized by Sardar Patel by intimidation grade classes. This was in part due to repeating my fifth and threat of force. In most states, the farmers, majority of grade, of course. Everything except Hindi was the same as whom were Patels, had to pay half of their crop to the rul- my fifth grade at Gomta. Excelling in my studies and class ers. The farmers were not the title holders of the farmland in ranking gave me a tremendous psychological boost. A friend most princely states. Upon independence, the farmers sud- of mine, Naran, who was from Derdi, was first for three years denly became the owners of the land and there was no shar- in a row. I was second and my friend, Vasant from Gomta, ing of the crops. Hence, these former rulers and the outlaws, was third for these three years. Naran was form a very poor who were mostly from Rajput and Kathi21 castes, wanted to family and was not required to pay for his stay at Ashram. take revenge on all Patels, and to subordinate them—to The house-master made him do small chores every once in a put them back in their place—using whatever means they while, though he was not required to do that as a condition could. However, despite their best efforts, the outlaws and of his stay in the Ashram. I believe this was an arbitrary deci- the former rulers could never accomplish their goals. Thus, sion of the house-master. even though Sardar Patel was extremely successful in bring- During its early years of independence, India learned ing all 597 princely states into the Indian union and went and matured as a democratic society. Saurashtra was one down in Indian history as the Iron Man India; to some former of the best and cleanest states of India. Sardar Patel passed rulers, he was an evil. away in December of 1950. Many of us who were born in the As a part of the daily routine, we were awakened by a bell princely states and people in border-states like Punjab and at 5:00 AM. We studied for about an hour in a common room Rajasthan felt this loss very hard. Sardar Patel was the only and then there was a prayer at 6:30 AM. After that we got a Indian Leader, counting Gandhi, who boldly confronted the cup of warm milk and a piece of Roti, if there was leftover princely states and Pakistan (when they invaded Kashmir). from previous night’s supper. We always had a one-verse For better or for worse—both the uniting of the princely prayer before eating lunch or supper. There were morning states into independent India as well as the unsettled stale- drills and games and late afternoon games and play times. mate in Kashmir, India’s current situation is still largely a re- Our school, Sagramji High School, was within walking dis- flection of the personalities of Gandhi, Nehru and Patel. tance from our boarding house. We attended school for five I spent the sixth grade at Sagramji Middle School (SMS). and a half days a week. This routine continued, every day, SMS was a sixth grades only satellite campus of Sagramji High School. I was back at Sagramji High School for seventh to elev- enth grades. In addition to Hindi courses at school, I also took 21 Rajput and Kathi were ruling class and belonged to Ksatriya caste of Hindu system.

20 21 Marshall Plan versus The Great Society Maturing in Gondal, the best years of life

Hindi courses offered in Gondal by Gujarat Vidyapith22 located Even though I was in Gondal for three years by now, I did in Ahmedabad. Those classes were more Urdu based. The four not know who these people were. I did not have a chance years of studies would provide an equivalent of a bachelor de- to see movies. Sometimes when the other students from gree in Hindustani, or Urdu. Five years would give you an equiv- Gondal talked about movie stars, I did not know anything alent of a Masters degree. I studied these courses in the eve- about them. After Labhuben was married, I continued nings and weekends. For the first year, the written script was working with Vallabhbhai on the family farms during school Pharsi or Arabic letters. From the second year, the script was vacations in summer and at Diwali time24. By this time, my changed to Hindi alphabets. By this time I had picked up writ- younger brother Girdhar had finished his sixth grade at ing in Arabic, but as the years went by, I lost that knowledge. I Gomta and started to help Vallabhbhai on the family farms. finished my Hindi Vinit, the four years course, by the time I was in By 1951, the threat of RSS was almost gone. Some of the the tenth grade. My first year certificate was signed by Deputy older students from the Ashram finally confronted them in Prime Minister Vallabhbhai Patel, who was also the Chancellor of the grounds outside the school and stood up to them. In Gujarat Vidyapith. The next three years certificates were signed contrast a new gang of outlaws were resurgent and at their by Morarji Desai, then Chief Minister of Mumbai State and later peak in late 1951 and early 1952. The outlaws found shelter the Prime Minister of India from 1977 to 1979. Unfortunately, at the palaces owned by many former rulers or their relatives. my parents or I lost these certificates, which had been carefully They supplied weapons and shelter to outlaw Bhupat and stored in a book shelf at our residence in Gomta. In 1953 I had his deputies. Bhupat and his henchmen cold bloodedly mur- no concept of what a treasure in a family’s collection of docu- dered many innocent people because they were Patels and ments these certificates would have been. Congress Party supporters. The outlaws killed many people, My older sister Labhuben married to Chhaganlal execution style, among them eleven murders within a span Mandavia in 1951. For us, who grew up in Gomta, it was of fifteen minutes in Kharachia and eight members of one very impressive that the groom was working in Mumbai. family in Moti Vavdi. In 1952, Patels were the largest caste, When we went to Kolithad to bring Labhuben back for a about twenty five per cent of the population of Saurashtra. few days, Chhaganlal impressed me even more by playing They were also forty per cent of all farmers. However, nearly his hand-cranked gramophone record player. We had never one hundred per cent of the people murdered were Patels. seen one before. It was like a magic box playing music. He It is worth noting that on the night of massacre in further charmed us by talking about then famous Indian Kharachia at a Congress Party election rally, in December screen actors, Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Suraiya,23 and the movies. 1951, the state Chief Minister Dhebarbhai was to attend the rally. But for some unexplained reasons, call it a pure coin- 22 Vidyapith is a Sanskrit word for an educational institution. Gujarat cidence or convenience, the Chief Minister was late for the Vidyapith was started for the sole purpose of promoting the teaching of Hindi in Gujarat. rally. If the outlaws wanted to murder the Chief Minister, the 23 Raj Kapoor was number one male movie star, the Clark Gable of India. Nargis was his favorite leading lady. In addition to being a good 24 In High School we used to get about two months summer vacation female movie star, Suraiya was also a famous singer. and about three weeks of Diwali vacation.

22 23 Marshall Plan versus The Great Society Maturing in Gondal, the best years of life state police were no match for the weapons and the skills of it and it was great experience learning about politics in a the outlaws. Some in the police department had question- democratic society. The Congress won easily in Saurashtra able loyalty. I was fifteen years old and a very strong sup- and all the other states. porter of Congress Party. Some of the victims’ children were As soon as the elections were over, and as if the ruling my classmates in Gondal. Congress Party was waiting for the end of the elections, Many people, including myself, believed, after the Saurashtra government hired Ashwini Kumar, a brilliant po- elections were over, that some Congress Party leaders in lice officer from Punjab. Within a few weeks many former Saurashtra did not care about the murders and may have rulers were arrested, convicted and sent to jail. Bhupat es- looked the other way, because it brought great public sym- caped to Pakistan with the help of the some former rulers. It pathy for the Congress Party during January 1952 national was a great miscarriage of justice and perhaps a conspiracy elections. However, it did so at the expense of innocent farm- between former rulers and the Congress Party bosses in ers’ lives. In 1952 election, Khedut Sangh (Farmers’ alliance), Saurashtra. But the terror of former rulers and the outlaws headed by Ratilal Ukabhai Patel of Rajkot and Parshuram was gone forever and the peace and tranquility returned to Dudhat of Jamnagar was very powerful and a real threat the villages. to Congress Party. According to some rumors, the outlaw In the eighth grade our fellow student, Naran, who was Bhupat was telling his victims not to vote for Congress Party from a poor family, and therefore required to work for the but, instead, to vote for Khedut Sangh. Naturally no law- Ashram by the house-master, when and as needed, was sent abiding citizens would support the candidate or a party that to villages to collect the donations, mostly grains and not Bhupat wanted in office, so the rumor worked like a charm. cash, for the Ashram. He must have spent several weeks do- The Khedut Sangh lost the 1952 elections and the Congress ing this during prime study time and as a result his grades Party won with a big majority. In time, many of us came to suffered. He could not refuse to do whatever the house- believe that the rumors may have been perpetrated by the master Balubhai Patel told him to do. In the eighth grade Congress Party, who could have easily predicted the reaction. he lost his first place and ended up behind most other good I was in the eighth grade at the time of 1952 elections. students. To this day I believe that it was a great injustice Many of my peers and I were politically active, encouraged by to a poor boy. In all likelihood, he would have been first our boarding house. We used to go out in open-bed trucks in school through our graduation at the end of eleventh to canvass for the Congress Party. We used to leave early in grade. He was capable of making the top-15-list of the four- the morning and return late in the evening. House-master states Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exam that cov- Balubhai Patel would be waiting for us, hoping that we had ered Mumbai, Saurashtra, Madhya Bharat, and Kutchh states. not run into the outlaws’ gangs. We will never know how These four states make up the present states of Maharashtra close we ever came to death. We were just sent to canvass and Gujarat. Instead, Naran ended up working part-time for for the Congress Party and neither our house-master nor the the Ashram for the next three years and went on to study trustees thought they needed permission from our parents as a social worker. In the United States, a student like him to use us for such a dangerous mission. We enjoyed doing would end up in a prestigious university on a full scholarship.

24 25 Marshall Plan versus The Great Society Maturing in Gondal, the best years of life

I was mostly on the wrong side, or one of the least favorite and dining hall campus naming it for late Balubhai Patel. It students of house-master, Balubhai. I never understood why. would become reality in 2004. The stated reason was that I did not study enough, spent too From eighth through eleventh grades, the top spot in much time on sports and did not keep good company. I be- the High School was an open competition among four stu- lieve that all of these reasons may have been covers for his dents. Arjun Bhensdadia was from Kolki. Vasant Vachhani real reason for disliking me, but I could not understand why. and I were from Gomta. All three of us lived at the Ashram. I also believe that, despite his unfavorable treatment of me The fourth student was Chitendra Popat, who lived nearby at times, Balubhai has contributed to the character, advance- in Station Plots. All four of us were very good friends and ment, future and the nationalistic spirit of Patel youths more almost inseparable. There was never any jealousy or holding than anyone in the region. Now that I can look back on the back anything. We studied, did our homework and prepared situation, I feel that, deep down, Balubhai regarded me as for the exams together. I think Vasant, Arjun and Chitendra somewhat of an outsider, because I was from a conserva- were among my best friends in life. Other good friends in tive religious family that had not always accepted Gandhian the same class were Babulal Chaniara and his cousin Girdhar views. I think that in my pre-teen years I was paying the price Dhulia from Gomta, Parsottam Amrutia from Trakuda and for my parents’ “sins” of following traditional Indian customs- Raghav Kaneria from Anida. Friends who were senior to me adhering to caste system and the notion of untouchability25, were Babulal Bera of Vadodar, and Bhagvanji Vachhani and a concept that was ingrained in our culture and dated back Girdhar Moteria of Gomta. over a thousand years. On January 30, 1949, the first anni- From 1948 to 1955 I matured rapidly. These were the gold- versary of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, most students en years of my early life. The seven years at Patel Vidyarthi fasted for the day. I was only one of a dozen or so students Ashram were some of the most enjoyable and memorable in who did not do so, and was the subject of unfair treatment my life. During this period I reached the peak of my educa- for a long time thereafter. I was only twelve years old on tional ability. I also played in many different sports and was that day, too young to understand the rights and wrongs on the High School Hututu, Kho Kho, Volleyball and track of the social norms or to comprehend the repercussions teams. In tenth and eleventh grades, I was the captain of of not following them. Despite these incidences, I was one Hututu and Kho Kho teams and represented the school in of Balubhai’s great admirers and appreciated what he had 100-meter, 400-meter, 1600-meter and 400-meter relay in done for Patel youths. Nearly half a century later, I would be the inter school athletics. In the eleventh grade I also won an instrumental in proposing that we tear down the aging Patel open essay contest. I also won almost all events I entered in Vidyarthi Ashram and re-build a new high school, dormitory, the Gondal City sports organized by the municipality on the Independence Day. These were rare and unique honors for a teenage boy from Gomta, something I had never dreamed 25 In Hinduism’s caste system, Sudras, the members of the lowest caste, were considered unclean and, therefore, untouchable. The system could happen. These events gave me a tremendous psycho- was widely practiced until Independence. Mahatma Gandhi had called logical boost and a confidence that I could achieve lot more Untouchability “a shame” of Hinduism.

26 27 Marshall Plan versus The Great Society Maturing in Gondal, the best years of life than I had expected as a child and more than others had led The all-important Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exam us to believe. was administered by a multi-state examination board based In 1953, my older brother Vallabhbhai married to Sharda in the city of Pune, in the state of Mumbai in 1955, now in the Bhabhi. Her given name was Shanta. My cousin Chhotubhai’s state of Maharashtra. wife’s name was also Shanta. By Indian tradition, when there During my tenth grade, I met Mohanbhai Jagani, a is one woman by the same name in the family, they give a former student of our Ashram and the first Patel student new name to the new bride. That is how Bhabhi got her from our area to go to the USA to study agriculture at the new name Sharda. During summer vacations, I used work University of Iowa and return to work for the government. on the family farms with Girdhar, Vallabhbhai, and Bhabhi. During my 11th grade, I met Jayant Alagia. He was a bril- Sometimes we would get up at 3:00 AM so we could be at liant student and was first in Bachelor of Civil Engineering the farm by 4:00 AM, working hard, spreading the fertilizer, and Inter Science Exams of Gujarat University and, I be- until about two hours after sunrise. lieve, in the SSC exam also. He had just returned from the Beginning in the eighth grade, we were required to take USA after finishing his M.S. in Structural Engineering at the English as a separate course and Hindi was dropped for our University of Illinois at Urbana. He talked to us about the eighth through eleventh grades. This was another experi- USA, his studies and the American people. This was the first ment done on us. The students ahead of us were taught time I started dreaming about going to the USA for further most courses in English, but our medium of instruction had education. This was in late 1954. A few months later Alagia been Gujarati. As the product of independent India and married Jasuben, the second daughter of our house-master Gandhji’s home state, we (and our education experiences) Balubhai Patel. were caught in the turbulence which accompanied India’s Studying from 7 to 9 PM and 5:30 to 7:00 AM was enough transition to an independent nation. At first, the schools quit to cover all the subjects, which left time for sports and teaching in English because they wanted to sever all con- other activities. There was also time to study in the after- nections with Great Britain and rid the land of all vestiges of noons and weekends. In 1954, the Saurashtra Patel Students colonialism. But then the politicians realized that the abil- Association was formed. At its first meeting, Ramnik Dhami ity to communicate in English offered some advantage in and I were elected Joint Secretaries. At the convention, I maintaining ties outside India, and that maintaining those had the privilege of meeting Bhailalbhai Patel, an eminent ties was beneficial. Then the schools in Gujarat began teach- Engineer. He was the chairman and founder of prestigious ing English again, beginning with the eighth grade. Charotar Educational Trust. He was also the designer of the In 1952, Chitendra was ranked first in the school for the world-famous Sakkar Barrage Dam on the Indus River, now in eighth grade. In the ninth grade, in 1953, Arjun was first. Pakistan. He was a friend of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India’s In the tenth grade finals in 1954, Arjun and I were tied for first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. The Patel the honor and shared a small monitory prize. Now the Student Association was the brainchild of Ratilal Ukabhai race was on for the biggest honor of the school, the first Patel of Rajkot – the former leader of Khedut Sangh that lost place for the school finals for our last year of high school. election to Congress Party in 1952.

28 29 Marshall Plan versus The Great Society Maturing in Gondal, the best years of life

In late 1954, when I was in eleventh grade, Gujarat I would place somewhere between first and fourth in my Vidyapith asked me to be an examiner for the first, second, high school graduating class. Of course, I would be most and third levels of Hindi examinations in some rural centers. happy to be the valedictorian, but I had so much respect for I was honored, but with high school studies as my primary the ability of Arjun, Vasant, and Chitendra that I thought any responsibility, I went to conduct only one oral examination one of us four could be the valedictorian. I believe we all felt at an exam center in Shivrajgadh, ten miles from Gondal, same way. All four of us knew that we were capable of being where many students were older than me. Hindi teaching number one not only in our high school, but in the examina- by Gujarat Vidyapith was outside of normal school curricu- tion center. Gondal was not a designated exam center, so lum. It was offered to adults as well as younger students. we had to go elsewhere to take the SSC exam. The four of One of the reasons I was asked to conduct this examination us talked about taking the exam in different centers. That was that there were very few examiners available, who had would mean that we could be number one at a test cen- passed Hindi Vinit. In 1954, I did not know any other high ter while our friend(s) could be number one at a different school student, who had passed Vinit. center. Arjun decided to take his exam at Porbander Center, During all of these busy times of study, I never felt any where students came from about ten high schools. Vasant, pressure or stress due to lack of study or thinking about it. I Chitendra and I chose the testing center in Rajkot, where the never felt that playing sports or participating in student as- students from fifteen high schools took their final exams. We sociation activities affected my studying for the SSC exam. stayed in a public lodge. Since we were now free from our It was really so much fun that I enjoyed every moment of it. house-master Balubhai’s rules, the night before the exam I I never wanted my eleventh grade to end; yet we all knew went to see movie Nastik instead of studying. I just wanted that our time together in Gondal was drawing to a close. to enjoy my freedom from the boarding-house rules. Preparations for the SSC exam and the talk of going to col- SSC board required each student to take final exam in lege became major topic of conversation as we progressed a minimum of seven subjects. Each subject counted a total through our last year of high school. of one hundred points, but the total points received was di- In the first terminal examination, at the end of the first vided by the number of subjects attempted, to arrive at an term, I received 85% marks, which was a school record and average. Most students took seven or eight subjects. The no one, including me, had expected. The head Master of the class ranking was based on overall percentage of the total, school, Mr. C. T. Vyas came to talk to me and Balubhai and similar to grade point average in the USA. The exam was in suggested that I had a chance at being in the top five in the March, 1955. SSC exam taken by over 150,000 students from four states. When the results came out in May, I went to the school I had never thought of that possibility. The previous year’s office and the clerk told me that out of our school’s students, class had top 15 students, scoring form 86% to 82%. The Arjun was first, Vasant was second and I was third. This did board published the names of only the top 15 students. not shock or surprise me. But when I saw the posted marks, I studied only moderately for the SSC exam. I never I told the clerk that I was first, Arjun second, Vasant third, and considered the rank beyond my High School. I knew that Chitendra fourth. Arjun and Vasant had higher total marks

30 31 Marshall Plan versus The Great Society Maturing in Gondal, the best years of life based on their eight subjects, and 79% and 78% average, re- These activities were controlled by the city boys and they spectively, but I had higher percentage, 81%, from my seven were not mentally prepared for sudden arrival of so many subjects. Patel boys from the villages. Facing these adversities and The next day the state’s leading newspaper, Fulchhab, dealing with them made men out of most of these young printed that a student from Virani High School in Rajkot, Patel boys in their teens. By the time we finished our high Rashid Lakhani, was first in Rajkot center, out of about 2,500 school studies, we were involved and welcomed in all sports students who took the finals. They had made the same mis- activities. take as the clerk at my school. I wrote the paper and pointed The results of SSC exam opened up a new horizon over- out their error and requested them to print that I was first night for the Patel students in Saurashtra. There was a per- in Rajkot center. I expected the newspaper to disregard my ception in Saurashtra that Patel boys were made to work on request, but to my surprise, the newspaper ran a one-para- the farms and they could not study in higher education or graph story saying I was first in the Rajkot center. Arjun was compete with the boys from more educated castes. People indeed first in Porbander center. in Rajkot and elsewhere were stunned at this news about Liladhar Kotak of Morbi was first in the state of Saurashtra. three Patel boys from Gondal. Patel Boarding had not sent I was second, Arjun was third, Lakhani was fourth and Vasant more than one Patel student to college in any one of previ- rounded up the fifth spot in the state. Never before in the ous years. The class of 1955 sent twelve Patel boys to various history of our high school had a student ever been first in an Gujarat University colleges. This was a great leap forward for SSC examination center. Now we had two students, simulta- the Patel community as the doors that were closed to them neously, who claimed that honor. And just as amazing, three until now, were kicked wide open for all Patel students who students from our boarding and our high school were tak- would follow us. ing three of the top five spots in the state. Kodak’s 85% av- Arjun, Vasant and I received the state’s Saurashtra Merit erage ranked tenth among all students from western India. Scholarships and Farmers Education Fund Scholarships that Based on the extrapolation of the curve, my headmaster and were awarded to top ten students to attend the college of I concluded that I must have been around number 30 overall our choice within the state. Chitendra did not make into top out of approximately 150,000 students who attempted the ten in SSC finals. Since he was not from a farming family, finals of SSC board located in Pune. he could not receive Farmer’s scholarship either. In addition, Despite many adversities, my seven years at Patel we were awarded merit scholarships from our colleges that Vidyarthi Ashram were rewarding, character building, and were automatically designated for the top four incoming memorable for me. These were some of the best years of freshmen. As if all this money was not enough, all four of my life. Living with more than 100 students was just one us were notified that we were to receive prizes awarded by part of learning to live with others. We learned to deal the old Gondal state trust fund. Since Chitendra was from with fears and threats from outlaws and RSS. Even after Gondal, he received the prize awarded to top ten students the Independence, Patel students were allowed into, but from former Gondal state. We were rich! Our state merit not welcomed into the school and inter-school sports. scholarship was guaranteed for two years. In one month

32 33 Marshall Plan versus The Great Society we had commitments to cover the expenses of two years of college. In 1955 all of these honors were overwhelming for me and a lot more than I had dreamed of in high school. The results of the SSC exam and all other achievements in high school gave me a tremendous psychological boost for the rest of my life. Now I had the confidence that I would be able to compete with students from any high school. When my own children were growing up and I saw how Chapter three: much encouragement and publicity is given to student College Life–Seriousness achievers in the United States, I could not help but won- der how much more I could have achieved if my circum- Replaces the Fun stances had been different—for example, if my parents had been fortunate enough to have been college educated, or if someone among our family or friends had been savvy ne of the colleges I had considered was Ferguson enough to guide me early on about the course selection College in Pune. It is one of the best colleges in and proper test-taking techniques. I like to imagine that I OIndia. It was totally free for students from the former might have been in the top-5 in overall SSC exam. However, Gondal state. The tuition and dormitory expenses were paid there were others, in far worse situations, who seemed to from the trust created and endowed by former Maharaja struggle through with desperate hope and determination, Bhagavatsinhji. The medium of instruction at Ferguson was trying to succeed against all odds. I am thinking of my young English. Because of my limited education of the English lan- friend Naran from Derdi, who always managed to beat us guage, four years from eighth to eleventh grades, I was con- academically, until his circumstances thrust him into a situ- cerned that I might not be able to compete with students ation in which it was impossible to compete. He was obvi- from Mumbai and Pune, who were fluent in English by Indian ously capable of being first, as he had proven repeatedly, but standards. Also, if we were to collect state merit scholarship, because he was staying free of charge at the boarding house we were required to attend a college within our state. Finally and made to do many chores by the house-master; he did Vasant and I chose Dharmendra College in Rajkot, which not finish high school or go to college. I still wish I could was part of the Gujarat University system. Arjun enrolled undo the injustice done to him. in Bahauddin College in Junagadh. Parsottam Amrutia and Babulal Chaniara also joined Dharmendra College. Raghav Kaneria enrolled at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara. I soon realized that college life is entirely different from the disciplined but carefree life of high school and Patel

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