Getting away, making good

She wanted to board a Bombaybound train but climbed one chugging in the opposite direction Urmila Vashi had come home to Navsari on a break from Grant Medical College GMC in Bombay Every bit as bold as she was bright she was determined to marry her classmate Amul Shah and chart a future togetherThe family forbade her leaving Navsari to meet her beau again Apart from the fact that she was fixing her own match and with someone still to settle financially their opposition owed to timeworn prejudicemdashthe couple belonged to different Gujarati castesThe freshly qualified young doctorEmbarking on an adventure incredible for a girl alone to attempt in 1951 Urmila sneaked into Navsari Station With no train to her destination scheduled for hours she began walking on the opposite track Towards Surat to throw pursuing relatives offscent A surprised motorman heading there in his solitary engine picked her upRealising she needed to reach Bombay he requested a colleague going her way for a ride She switched engines at Surat jumping on in a puffsleeved frock the tailored trend of the day Till the Bombay finale it was for the romantic escapade straight from a masaledaar Yash Raj movie ldquoShe thought the getaway neither brazen nor remarkable simply what must be done Mummy was a gutsy feminist considering her traditional backgroundrdquo says her dermatologist daughterinlaw Dr Avani ShahGrant Medical College their alma mater PicShadab KhanAwaiting his plucky bridetobe in Bombay with admiration and trepidation Amul knew little could deter her en route Urmila had shone right from her years at Tata School near Tarota Bazar in Navsari where she studied intently on her otla porch ldquoVashi ni naanhi dikri bau hushyaar Manibhai Vashirsquos younger daughter is so cleverrdquo the mohalla buzz marvelled Her studious bent exempted her from an overload of household choresShe stayed with an aunt in Ahmedabad to complete her Junior BScmdasha taxing period with nights spent reading textbooks under the streetlights Travelling to college she was harassed by a roadside Romeo for two days at her bus stop On the third morning a Muslim shopkeeper noticing her discomfiture had laid a charpoy at the spot to sit separatelySK Patil and Sardar Patel at Robert Money School in the 1950s Patil with his beloved dog Tinker Pics courtesySuhas ThakurAt GMC Urmila and Amul became instant constant companions For final exams she wheedled him into underlining salient paragraphs in medical tomes She focused on those marked sections He diligently memorised copious whole chapters She passedHe duckedldquoOn graduating they practised as general physicians him with more than a working knowledge of paediatrics her of gynaecology My mother was among Bombayrsquos first to earn an MBBSDGO diploma in gynaecologyrdquo says orthopaedic surgeon Dr Nilen Shah Outoftowners bothmdashhe from Bhavnagar where his father ran A to Z Provisionsmdashthey had sought hostel accommodation From Mahavir Jain Vidyalaya at Gowalia Tank he commuted to GMC on foot sparing precious tram fare annas She lived in Kanji Khetsi Girls Hostel in Fort Soon after that exciting train trip she dressed for their secret wedding from a hostel room on the top floor of Mani Bhavan Cooper greeting Indira Gandhi at Bombay airport Pics courtesyFarhad CooperFour years following that clandestine ceremony the official 1955 marriagemdashwhen Urmila Vashi became Pushpa Shahmdashwas blessed by a now mollified family The Shahs split rent with another family in Ghelabhai Mansion at Chowpatty They shared a clinic round the corner at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Their prem kahaani kept blooming through almost 70 summers The city lost Dr Pushpa Shah two years back at a grand 92Landing here for higher education a generation earlier a policemanrsquos son from Zarap village of Sindhudurg went on to be ldquoanabhishikt samraatrdquo the uncrowned king of Bombay The articulateness moulding Sadashiv Kanoji SK Patil into a fine journalist and consummate politician was evident at age 12 His granddaughter Natya Sangeet singer Sumitra Samant reveals he reeled off Bhagavad Gita passages in Sanskrit at kirtan gatheringsFinishing from the local school he trekked four miles to daily Patil enrolled at St Xavierrsquos College ldquoHis affinity for a cosmopolitan Bombay formed on this campus He gave up studies in 1921 to participate in the NonCooperation Movementrdquo says grandnephew Suhas Thakur whose father Maheshwar Vishnu Thakur was virtually Patilrsquos personal assistantKeki Byram CooperAn outstanding orator in Marathi and English Patil studied journalism at London School of Economics encouraged by philanthropist and fellow Malvani Motiram Desai Topiwala Returning he lent his patriotic pen to the Bombay Chronicle edited by that Englishman champion of free India Benjamin Guy HornimanPatil told his grandchildren ldquoYou have a golden spoon in your mouth I suffered unforgettable hardshiprdquo Steeped in the disciplined idealism of satyagraha he was jailed eight years between 1930 and 1944 His family lived in Sita Building close to Congress House The chawl with stunning timber railings and infilled louvers lies off VP Road named after Vitthalbhai Patel Swaraj Party cofounder and brother of Patilrsquos mentor Sardar Vallabhbhai PatelHis public career soaring Patil was Bombay Provincial later Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary for 17 years from 1929 and its president for another decade from 1946 With rallying cries of ldquosakriya swatantryardquomdashactive independencemdashBombay emerged the countryrsquos power centreFrom 1930 to 1967 Patil was unquestioned leader of the Congress notes TK Tope in the book Bombay and Congress Movement ldquoFriends with all parties he was called lsquothe practical politicianrsquo by US presidents Lyndon Johnson and JFKrdquo adds Suhas Patil served three consecutive Mayor terms among civic posts of distinctionThe avowed animal lover doted on Labradors and boxers Whenever Vijaya Raje Scindiamdashpart of Patilrsquos inner circle with Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Tarkeshwari Sinhamdashcame to Bombay she gifted him smaller dogsAs Union Minister for Railways in the midrsquo60s he helped social worker Bapsy Sabavala save a Matheran horse Seriously wounded championshipwinning Super Boy deserved attention from Parelrsquos Haffkine Institute Transporting large animals by train was unprecedented Sabavala fakesigned a telegram from Patil instructing Central Railways declaring ldquoIrsquoll explain to Patil Hersquoll understandrdquo He absolutely did Super Boy survived Also 1927born like Dr Pushpa Shah was Keki Cooper the son of a successful Lahore barrister forced to ditch privilege In Bombay he reset the brutal legacy of Partition emerging a dynamic entrepreneur and visionary innovatorLeaving behind a luxurious 13room villa and repute enough to have Street 13 and 17 named Cooper Road the 20yearold rode the fateful last train from Lahore in 1947 Braving bloodied platforms piled with bodies with his father Byram he pulled up a sepoy fighting for a foothold in their compartment Only these three Indians stepped off alive besides four Britishers under Army escortFather and son were fleeing to reunite with Kekirsquos mother Shirin who was visiting her parents in Secunderabadmdashher father Pherozshaw Chinoy financial advisor to the Nizam built the Hyderabad fire temple Rather than Shirin risk a solitary comeback to Lahore the men decided to reach her Not being ldquoMulkirdquo native to Hyderabad and Lahore part of undivided Punjab Keki was refused college admission He shifted to Bombay where the Dubash side of his fatherrsquos family took him on at Darabshaw B Cursetjee amp Sons their shipping major with multiple interestsStarting as salesman at a cold storage he was subsequently employed with the famed Rogers fizz brand It was jobbing at Kandla in Gujarat that paved the path for seven decades of expertise in shipping bulk cargo handling and stevedoring ldquoRising from dockhand to foreman converting a salt port to a thriving commercial one he was a member of the Ports Advisory Committee of Gujarat Maritime Board and president of Kandla Steamship Agents Associationrdquo says Kekirsquos son Farhad MD of Amfico Agencies which his father bought in 1965The company commenced operations representing carpet auctioneers Rippon Boswell and Bickenstaff and Knowles before becoming the face of UK logistics giant Suttons International Cooper won the first contract in an unusual encounter Sam Wennek of Rippon Boswell was a Swiss Jew known to Cooperrsquos friend Reuben Kelly At a Colaba synagogue Kelly introduced Cooper to Wennek as the man swinging a vastly better than expected price for a car sold Impressed Wennek offered him the carpets deal Striking business within 48 hours Cooper fit the bill perfectlymdashWennek preferred Parsi collaborators Cooper was further instrumental in developing the Jamnagar Bhavnagar Magdalla Dahej and Pipavav ports Chief Minister Chhabildas Mehta credited him in a letter for facilitating dual fuel technology moving automobiles on gas and petrol before their debut in India ldquoMany of his pioneer projects lack documentary proof Dad presented the government proposals like linking the Ganga to the hinterland up to Kanyakumari with canal irrigationrdquo says Farhad I once interviewed Keki Coopermdashfeisty few traces of fragility even in his 90smdashfor a history of Altamont Road He came in 1964 to Navjeevan Kutir where his beautician wife Kamal opened her popular salon From their kitchen window they watched Rolls Royces purr out of the tycoon Dadisethrsquos Greekstyle mansion which is Prithvi Apartments todayAny advice I asked ldquoBad times great times come and go Just remain full of ideas and plans till the very endrdquoAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay You can reach her at mehermarfatiamiddaycomwwwmeher marfatiacom