On
the 1st of May, 1927, Ramjibhai boarded a steamer to start his trip
abroad. Throughout the journey he was accompanied by Shri Mohanlal Purohit and
Shri Ratilal. At that time there were no facilities for air travel. So first
they travelled to England. From there they went to Naples, where they alighted
and proceeded to Switzerland via Rome. The export office of Mr. Bash was
located on the border of Switzerland. There Ramajibhai stayed in the Grand
Hotel, where he had already made a reservation. The staff of Bash’s Company
extended a warm welcome to Ramjibhai. During the first three days his hosts
took him to see the worthwhile sights of Switzerland, both of historical
interest and natural beauty. Of course, all expenses for this tour were borne by
Ramjibhai, not by the hosts!
“You
should only wear khadhi, even abroad.” These words of Gandhiji constantly rang
in his ears and respecting them, Ramjibhai wore only khadi. Comparing his
native costume with the fashionable clothes of the people there, Ramjibhai
often felt diffident and embarrassed. But, these were Ganghiji’s instructions!
How could he disregard them? Still, taking his courage in both hands, Ramjibhai
wrote to Gandhiji, “These clothes do not
really suit the climate of these foreign lands, and I am not comfortable wearing
them. With your permission I will have some clothes made from regular cloth,
which will be more appropriate.”
Without
thinking twice, Gandhiji sent Ramjibhai’s letter to Shri Jerajani, adding, “Please manufacture some cloth that will be
suitable for Ramjibhai to wear abroad, and send it to him.” Shri Jerajani
had high quality Kashmiri silk made and sent to Ramjibhai. Ramjibhai had a coat
tailored from this material, but whether he was comfortable in it is not known.
Maybe he was comfortable in it – anyway, for a long time this type of cloth was
known as “Ramjibhai coating.”
Even
when Ramjibhai was in India he had not been keeping too well and as his health did
not seem to improve when he was abroad, he got himself checked up by a doctor
in Interlaken. The doctor examined Ramjibhai and put him up in his own house. Ratilal
Trivedi also stayed with him. Ramjibhai stayed at the doctor’s house for one
and a half months and underwent treatment for dysentery. He had to take
twenty-four injections of Amitin to be cured of dysentery. He also had to
change his diet and could only eat the food prepared by the doctor’s wife. Under
the proper care of the doctor, Ramjibhai was cured of dysentery and his health
improved. In this foreign land, Ramjibhai had a truly memorable and happy
experience of the extreme goodness of the people there.
During
the time he was there, the world famous Leipzig fair was to be held. Mohanbhai
had got two tickets for this fair. Actually they would require three tickets, but
Mohanbhai had reckoned that they could visit the fair in turns. It was not that
he was avaricious but rather his ‘Brahmin’ nature could be said to be thrifty.
All
three of them boarded the overnight train to visit the fair. Ramjibhai put his
wallet under his pillow instead of in his pocket. However, when they alighted
from the train at their destination, he forgot to take the wallet. From the
station they went to a restaurant and gave their order and immediately
remembered the wallet. When they told their story to the manager of the
restaurant, he suggested that they go to the unclaimed property office – where
“unclaimed property was returned to the owners on production of proof of
identity.” They went to the office and Ramjibhai got back his wallet exactly as
he had left it, not a single pence was missing. Pleased, Ramjibhai started to
offer a reward to the office clerk, but the clerk said, “Here, there is no practice
of offering or accepting rewards.” Ramjibhai mentally thanked him, but he was so
determined not to leave the office without giving the clerk something, that he
finally convinced him to accept ten pounds for his children.
As
per their prior arrangements, the three of them visited the exhibition in
Leipzig and then went back to London. They invited Mr. Bash, and the
representative from the London office to the Savoy Hotel for dinner, where
Ramjibhai was staying. During the meal, Mr. Bash encouraged Ramjibhai to visit
America, Japan and some other countries before returning home. To facilitate
his journey, he informed Ramjibhai that the ship, the “Queen Mary” was to set
sail within a day or two, and he (Ramjibhai) should leave on it. Ramjibhai
liked this idea, but he had been away from home for a long time and felt that if
he wanted to extend his stay abroad he should ask Jivanlalbhai, so he sent him
a telegram and awaited his reply. Jivanlal replied immediately, “Mr. Bash and some other persons are visiting
us in Calcutta to assess our situation; to prevent the latter from getting a
complete picture - due to your absence - he has devised the strategy of
suggesting that you visit America and Japan before coming home.” On reading
the telegram, Ramjibhai understood the whole game plan, and on the 1st
of November, 1927, set sail for India on a cargo ship. His health had improved
during his stay abroad, and he had put on about 21 pounds (9 – 10 kgs) in
weight. The cargo ship reached Calcutta later than Ramjibhai had estimated. Dr.
Pranjivandas Mehta was at the docks to receive Ramjibhai. He had taken
permission of the port authorities and sent a boat out to the steamer.
Pranjivanbhai had a strong desire to build a relationship with Ramjibhai; this
was also one of reasons why he extended this facility to him. The doctor put
Ramjibhai up in his house that night; and the next day Ramjibhai went to his own
house.
In
the meantime Mr. Bash and the others had arrived in Mumbai. Jivanlal and Pathak
had already initiated discussions with the English company regarding the
purchase of Crown and Gold Mohur companies on a fifty-fifty partnership basis.
In fact both parties had already agreed on these terms. Jivanlal had apprised Ramjibhai
of all these facts. Bash came to know about this. His plan was different, he
did not want to give them a fifty percent stake, so he immediately asked, “Why did you finalise everything before we
arrived?” But the deal had already been done, so there was nothing he could
do except agree to it.
At
this time, Narbheram Pandya was working as a manager in Jivanlal’s firm in
Mumbai. He took on the responsibility of explaining everything properly to Bash
and his associates. He had great respect for both Ramjibhai and Jivanlal. To
entertain Mr. Bash and his party, Harishankar arranged a hunting expedition in
the Gir forest.
Bash
had shown his readiness to invest Rs. 24 lacs and give royalties of Rs. 55,
000, and he stood by it. On his word, valuation of the factory and goods was carried
out. Rai Saheb Aggarwal, an iron merchant from Calcutta, and McKenzie Lial took
on the responsibility of this task. The four factories and all the goods were
valued at Rs. 4 lacs. Bash gave Rs. 24 lacs. He had brought his own accountant
with him. Ratilal Trivedi resolved to learn all the work under his guidance. It
was proposed that the accounts would be sent to Calcutta from all the branches,
where they would be consolidated, and on the 24th of every month,
the complete accounts would be sent to America. This proposal was accepted.
Once Ratilal Trivedi was familiar with all the work, and capable of handling
it, Bash’s accountant returned to America.
All
the formalities and procedures were completed in 1929. Now the question arose
as to what the company should be named – should it be Jivanlal (India) Ltd., or
Jivanlal (1929) Ltd.? Ramjibhai suggested the latter name, and this became
permanent.
The
office was shifted from Mehta Building to Clive Street. Ramjihai and Jivanlal
came to stay in Mirza Street. Very few Gujaratis resided here. Ramjibhai and
Jivanlal stayed (in the same building) on the first and second floor
respectively. The college square nearby had good facilities for swimming.
Ramjibhai, Jivanlalbhai and Harakhchand Pathak all took advantage of them to
learn how to swim.
After
sometime both Ramjibhai and Jivanlalbhai again changed their residence and came
to live on Elgin Road. There was also a lake there and they took advantage of
it to continue their swimming. The building where they were staying was larger
and had more facilities (than their previous building), so they could give part
of it out on rent to two people. One of them was Shantilal Trivedi and the
other was Ramshankarbhai from Halvad. They were working for Jivanlalbhai. The
building also housed a separate, spacious guest house, where Shri Gaganbhai
Mehta got the benefit of staying. When Shri Gaganbhai and Saudaminiben came to
Calcutta on their way to Rangoon, this educated and cultured couple were put up
in this large room. Ramjibhai took them around Calcutta and showed them a lot
of places of interest.
Another
advantage of this building was that it had a large compound, where community and
other types of meetings were held. The late Shri Pratapsingh Rao Gayakwad and
Colonel Shivraj Singh had also left their mark here. Over and above, when the
late Shri Vittalbhai Patel, came to Calcutta after resigning from the Indian
Viceroy’s council, he was put up in the large room of the guest house in this
building. Thus there were a lot of happy, memories associated with this
building.
Both
Ramjibhai and Jivanlalbhai were held in high esteem amongst the Gujarati Samaj
in Calcutta. They were not only considered as renowned Gujarati citizens, but
as social reformers. In fact they were considered leaders amongst the reformist
society. Another leader was Tribhovandas; he used to warmly welcome his guests
and serve them refreshments in fine china plates. Ramjibhai also enjoyed tea
and snacks in the same crockery. In those days all crockery, except that made
from metal, was considered unclean and it was thought that eating from such
plates would make a person impure, so serving food in china plates was very
forward thinking. At that time even though there was no ‘club life’ as we know
it today, there was a ‘Bombay Club’ in Calcutta, which was a meeting place for
well-to-do people. Tribhovandas was the main administrator of this club.
Vaghjibhai -from Vankaner - used to come there and the responsibility of managing
the club was assigned to him. The club used to host functions to honour royalty,
high officials and other leaders and stage shows were also held once a year or
so. Gujaratis living in Calcutta were always invited to these plays. The club
also accepted donations from them and efforts were made to modernise the club
as much as possible. The club’s members made Ramjibhai the president of the
club. After Ramjibhai accepted the presidency, he introduced games like chess, chopat, etc., to increase the popularity
of the club. Sometimes they would also invite the blind poet, Hansraj, from
Amreli, to perform in the club. As long as Ramjibhai was president of the club,
it went on well. When Ramjibhai came back to Calcutta in 1925, he saw that the standing
of the ‘Bombay Club’ had considerably deteriorated. He tried hard to restore
the club and bring new life into it. He collected donations of Rs. 1000/- from
as many people as possible and moved the club to a good building. Shri Liladhar
Premji, a wealthy gentleman from Calcutta, gifted his own billiard table to the
club. In this manner the club was revitalized and it ran well for a year or so.
In 1930, Vaghjibhai passed away and the management of the club passed into the
hands of a Marvadi person and after some time, gambling with cards started and the
Gujaratis’ enthusiasm waned.
In
1929 when Ramjibhai left Calcutta for Mumbai, this club gave him a warm send
off.
Ramjibhai
spent most of 1929 and 1930 in Mumbai. He lived on Sandhurst Road, which was
situated in the central part of the city. He had rented a luxurious flat having
eight or nine rooms for Rs. 250/-. In those days the paghadi system, which was prevalent amongst the wealthy class was
not customary amongst ordinary people and so he was able to get the flat
without any extra payment. At the time of writing this book (in 1971), such a
flat with nine rooms, which was available for Rs. 250 to 300 could not be had
for even Rs. 1500. The flat faced the road, and there were many pleasant
memories attached to this beautifully engraved building known as Birla House. Shri
Karsondas Chitalia, who was connected with Bhagini Samaj, held the association’s
classes here. Girls from well-to-do and noble families used to come to study in
these classes. The daughters of the late Shri Manubhai Nandshankar also used to
come to study in these classes.
During
this time a Kathiyavadi political conference was organised at the Royal Opera
House in Mumbai. The conference was presided over by Shri Ramanand Chattarji,
the editor of (the publication known as) the “Modern Revue.” For the duration
of his stay in Mumbai he was put up in Birla House. In addition, other
prominent officials from Kathiyavad, like Shri Manishankar Trivedi, Shri
Fulchand Tamboli from Jamnagar, and other important persons were also put up at
Birla House. Ramjibhai took on the
responsibility of looking after all these guests. However, there was one
sorrowful memory associated with this occasion; Shri Manishankar Trivedi passed
away while he was giving a lecture, due to a massive heart attack.
In
1930 Gandhiji started his historical satyagrah
(non violent struggle) for the production of salt in India, the government of
Mumbai was declaring one ordinance after another. Due to this, Ramjibhai had to
move from Birla House to Ghatkopar for some time. He also retired from Jivanlal
(1929) Ltd. At this time Jivanlal was in Mumbai, and through him Ramjibhai came
into contact with Jamnalal Bajaj. When Ramjibhai told him about his plans to
retire to his village, Jamnalal Bajaj said, “You should get involved in some productive
pursuit.”
Ramjibhai
was an active person, but his aim was not just to make money. Gandhiji’s character
and the great strides he was taking had made a lasting impression on Ramjibhai.
Ramjibhai was himself a wealthy person and had a high standing in society, but he
did not remain aloof from society. It was not in his nature to remain indifferent
to the people. On the contrary, whenever the opportunity arose for him to do
any kind of social service, he welcomed it enthusiastically and by doing whatever
he could under the circumstances, he gained a great deal of satisfaction.
At
the beginning of his nationalistic activities inspired by Gandhiji – Khadi
works at Amreli.
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