Papa had 2 friends in his youth that grew up with him Kailash Kaka and Shashi Mama. Kailash was a young man he met in Nainital. Shashi was actually his mom's cousin. The 3 of them spent a lot of time together in Mumbai in the late 40s and early 50s. Both joined mom and dad on their honeymoon trip to Nainital. In fact, part of the honeymoon trip was AT Kailash kaka's ancestral home in the hills of Nainital. Mom and Dad returned there atleast once or twice with the infant Dhruvbhai and Uttambhai.
Grandfather was working on a case for the Kesar Sugar factory in Baheri with Jivanlal Chhotalal. The case dragged through atleast one long summer. The case was to be heard at the Allahabad High Court and the Kesar Sugar team needed some Allahabad based lawyers. Who better to represent a well connected Gujarati family, than another set of Gujaratis ? They chose the Dave brothers of Allahabad.
That summer the Kilachands and the entire legal team decided to work out of Naintal. Grandfather and his entourage joined them. By now, papa had become a permanent fixture in the entourage, being called upon to take care of odd jobs like handling grandfathers stuff and running errands in between reading Popular Mechanics.
The Kilachands rented the Chitrakut bungalow on the Lower Ayar Patta slopes from Raja Jvala Prasad. The Allahabad lawyers - the Dave family - moved into Mt Kailash their ancestral home located on the Upper Ayar Patta slope. The Ayar Patta slope leads to Tiffin Top.
The Daves had a young nephew, Kailash. They also had a telescope. That started a friendship that lasted over 25 years, even after Kailash Kaka moved to London And the telescope - it was moved from Mount Kailash to Chtirakut, and used to check out the activities in homes within line of sight of Chitrakut.
When Papa finished engineering college and came to Mumbai seeking employment, he first stayed with his older cousin and mentor Balu kaka in Jogeshwari (a distant suburb). From there he would take the train to the mill that he worked at in Parel. A few months later, Balu Kaka went to London for further studies. Papa then moved in with his mom's uncle - Gordhan Kaka.
While this seemed like a very distant relationship, that is how clusters built up in the Bombay of that time. Gordhan kaka lived in Bhuleshwar near the Kumbha Tukda temple. He lived in a "chawl" or multi-story tenemement. A common balcony ran on the side of each floor. Each unit consisted of 2 rooms a "front" room cum kitchen and a sleeping room. Sometimes there would be a private balcony on the other side. The front room had an area carved out that served as a place for washing and bathing. Bathrooms were housed in a common toilet block at the end of each of the common balconies. People typically rented a unit here, paying a large initial deposit called "pughdi" and monthly rent.
The 2 rooms in Kumbha Tukda housed Gordhan Kaka, his mother, his second wife - the first one lived in Kapadwanj and was rumored to be insane), the children from his first wife, and his son Shashi from the current wife. Papa was welcomed into this family - though being an almost fully grown man, he ended up having to sleep in the public balcony in the area directly outside their unit. He and his black trunk lived there quite happily for several months.
He soon discovered that the Kilachand's Bombay home was quite nearby and Jivanlal and Sarla ben were now spending a fair amount of time in Bombay. So that relationship was renewed. The Daves nephew, Kailash had also taken up residence with his maternal aunt at Narpat Mansion in Girgaum, also a short distance from Bhuleshwar. He renewed his acquaintance with the young Kailash. And Gordhan kaka's son, Shashi - technical dad's uncle, but of similar age and inclination, joined them to become a trio.
While I never met Kailash kaka - he is supposed to have had a zest for the good things in life. When he left India to move to London following his marriage to a young Parsi lady. Papa met him when he visited England in 1964.
Kailash kaka died well before his time, but he left Papa with a stack of records which has left an indelible mark on us. for that's how we were all exposed to Cliff Richard's Bachelor Boy, the Mambo song, Vaya Con Dios, Peggy Lee's When you get what you want.... and my favorite Sixteen Tons from a very young age.
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