First Employment
Pappa got engaged at 18 (which was the norm in those days). He went to Jaria to work for his Kakaji-to-be, who had a hardware shop in Dhanbad (about 800 miles as the crow flies from Rajkot). The shop supplied hardware to the coal mines near Dhanbad. Pappa would cycle to the colliery with supplies from the shop. This was all physical work and Pappas health was not good, but one incident made him decide to leave his job – a comment from “Kakaji” that “What kind of a Jamai has my brother found?” Pappa was upset. He returned to Rajkot and broke off his engagement!
Pappa stayed a while
in Rajkot and recuperated. Meanwhile, Jikaka, who had migrated to E. Africa,
had come to visit, and Pappa asked him for a loan of 300 rupees so that
Pappa could get on a boat to E. Africa. Jikaka was happy to loan Pappa
the money.
