it was not only me, my best friends tapasvi and hemant both were also touched by dr rajesh mehta.
"tapasvi, i intend to go to dr mehta's weekly meetings. will you join me?" i asked tapasvi. though hailing from ruthless darbar community, tavasvi's make up was all different.though tall and powerful, he had very soft heart and was very emotional. he was a son of a famous poet,writer and director shree indu puwar. probably he and hemant were my only friends which could understand some of my odd ideas and emotional outbursts.
"yes neh, definitely we will go together. hemant also would like to come." i was almost sure of that.dr mehta casted a kind of magical spell on us.hemant, son of a medical officer, dr. ghanshyam shah, working at an interior village gothwa, was fanatically charged with emotions to serve the underprivileged. his family originally lived in today's pakistan before partition. on sundays when all others, including tapasvi, were gone home, i and hemant used to enjoy our solitude.many a times we had hot discussions for burning issues of our people. we would agree most of the times and some times not. we highly depended on each other to bring our ideas to action. when we discussed, he used to be very emotional. i remember one such night,when we had a very hot discussion. there was some dis agreement at a point. after fierce arguments, no one could convince. it all culminated in deep silence ultimately. after a few minutes i saw tears rolling by hemant's eyes.that made my eyes wet too. that disagreement was the greatest agreement made between two friends!
some of our seniors were already going to dr mehta's health circle.some had gone just for their curiosity. naturally different persons had different view points for dr mehta " that weird doctor? what he feels is he? his dressing and way of talking just irritates me! i never can accept such a doctor." said one of our seniors.
" you will spoil your time for nothing. he will take you to nearby slum and ask you to serve! he is a kind of half mad man.if you join him, you will also be like him! people laugh behind all those who go to his meetings!" another opinion from a senior.
"see, going to slum for service, talking about countrymen and how to uplift their life....all sounds sooooo good! but in reality what difference would it make to crores of such poor people? does he believe he can change the world just by this? i don't believe him!" some had more rationalized version to spell their negativity for dr mehta's activities.however, apart from a few such strong critics, most of the students, even if not going to his meetings, had respect for dr mehta and his activities.
on the day of meeting,there was nothing much to discuss amongst ourselves. we all three went there. the meeting was in our college building at a small garden of deptt of PSM. some students from medical college and some girls from the nursing college were sitting folding their legs making circle on the lawn.it was evening time after the college hours. dr mehta was also in the circle.he looked nothing different than in the class room.somehow i felt very soothing there.it was as if my hidden wish to do something for the poor was about to be granted. there were no any formalities. soon, dr mehta closed his eyes for prayer.from the way he sung, it was obvious he was not a singer but you could feel he could sing from his heart. all others joined him to complete the chorus. i remember only a few lines of that prayer presently.
jeevan anjali thajo maru jivan anjali thajo!
bhukhya kaje bhojan banajo, tarasya nu jal thajo!
( but i got full prayer from the net and copied it here!)
જીવન અંજલિ થાજો !
મારું જીવન અંજલિ થાજો !
ભૂખ્યાં કાજે ભોજન બનજો, તરસ્યાનું જળ થાજો;
દીનદુ:ખિયાનાં આંસુ લો’તાં અંતર કદી ન ધરાજો!
મારું જીવન અંજલિ થાજો !
સતની કાંટાળી કેડી પર પુષ્પ બની પથરાજો;
ઝેર જગતનાં જીરવી જીરવી અમૃત ઉરનાં પાજો!
મારું જીવન અંજલિ થાજો !
વણથાક્યા ચરણો મારા નિત તારી સમીપે ધાજો;
હૈયાના પ્રત્યેક સ્પન્દને તારું નામ રટાજો !
મારું જીવન અંજલિ થાજો !
વમળોની વચ્ચે નૈયા મુજ હાલકલોલક થાજો;
શ્રધ્ધા કેરો દીપક મારો નવ કદીયે ઓલવાજો!
મારું જીવન અંજલિ થાજો !
કરસનદાસ માણેક
the prayer churned our heart. it reflected our emotions soaring high at that time.it could wet corners of our eyes. but to be emotional was not everything. that emotion had to transform to a definite action. probably, i felt, dr mehta was able to give us that chance.
"friends, we have some new friends with us today" said dr mehta pointing to us." can you please introduce yourself?"
" tapasvi puawar from ahmedabad."
" hemant shah from visnagar"
"neh vaidya from bhuj"
"ok ...let me tell you something about this activity. health circle is a like minded friends group interested in doing activities which could help those who are in need.routinely , we go to nearby slum and run a clinic from them.we provide them free drugs.we also do preventive activities in the community. we believe in holistic medicine and rational use of drugs. we believe all human beings equal may they come from any religion, social or economic status. we have equal respect for all the religions. we want youngsters who believe in humanity and are determined to work for the change in the society."
thus our journey with dr mehta started. it was because of him, we could meet several good friends like kp, ragnesh, neeraj pandit, chavli, kadri, uma sister, meghna sister and many more. how could i forget jagdish soni? a gem of the persons i ever had met. he turned to be a true friend forever. dr. bhalendu vaishnav was a very good physician devoting time to activities of the health circle.
dr mehta's push gave us capacity, strength and determination to do what we really wished. he nurtured our tender feelings. it was because of him , we could meet some great people like vinay charul, daxaben-anilbhai-rashmibhai, dr ketan zaveri, dr shreedhar, dr anurag bhargav.they all were great inspiration for us ( and stll they are! they all need separate chapter for proper introduction.)
of course, not every thing about dr mehta's personality i liked. he was a staunch devotee of shree swaminarayan bhagwan. he had great zeal to read and to follow the holy book written by bhagwan shree swaminarayan, the shiksha patri. live me alone, i never even liked to go to any temple. some of his ideas were simply away from my routine reasoning. even if working vigorously in the villages, he would not eat anything from the market. leave the market, he would not accept any kind of food from the homes of the villagers- not even as a reciprocation of love shown by the villagers to him! he used to keep chana and peanuts in his pocket. that was the only thing he used to eat while working hours in the villages.
most strange part of his personality, however, was not this. even though he had master degree in preventive medicine, to our gross surprise, he was against the routine vaccination! this was completely weird! it was digestible if an illiterate villager refused the vaccination but when you know everything about vaccines and the diseases prevented by vaccination, how could you refuse it? still, he did. probably that had some strong religious reasons beyond my comprehension.
but still, could you stamp dr mehta a half mad man like some of my seniors? just because he dressed differently?just because he had some ideas to work for the poor? just because he was religious? for those who work for some change in the society, probably had to face such a strong criticism some time in their life. history is full of such so called half mad people which has contributed enormously to betterment of our daily lives. to my perception, dr mehta was one of such person. his dedication, determination and truthful nature was unquestionable.
dr mehta remained teacher, guide and a good friend for life time for all of us.
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