The Early Years
Pappa was born to Jadavji Manekchand Doshi and Diwaliben Kalyanji (nee Sheth) in Malya where Motaba’s parents lived. Motaba was 13 when they got married and when she was 15, Pappa was born. There were 14 brothers and sisters but only Pappa, Surajfaiba and Kamufaiba survived. There was a 10 year gap between Pappa and Surajfaiba and about 17 years between Pappa and Kamufaiba.
Pappa’s grandparents were quite well off at that time and Pappa spent a lot of time in Malya. He especially liked the Derasar there and he converted from Sthanakvasi to Deravasi. His primary school education was done in Amran which was the Doshi home town but for further education he had to go to Rajkot where Adda had a Ration shop. Pappa studied up to Matric but he did not take the exams. His English was very good not only for those times but had he been alive today we would have found that his spoken and written English were excellent. He left school before he was 18.
