Dr. CL Patel

with rotla and halwa. So even they had been allocated specific
land. And many other kinds of lands were to be taken care of.
All these things were managed by my father. He would
manage the meals for Brahmins during the month of Shravan.
Similarly, when it was Holi festival, or New year celebration or
Ram Navmi, or Gokulashtami, according to the ceremony, the
fund had to be raised. My father always used to tell us, 'I
would not bring money home. The money we receive as
donation must be used for the cause they were donated for'.
And the other thing he kept telling us was, 'When you
shoulder a responsibility, if you can't do any good to the
deserved, it's alright. But make sure that you do not cause
undue suffering.'
Chhotubhai learnt all these lessons from Lallubhai. It was
Lallubhai's subtle influence that taught Dr. C L Patel the
lessons of leadership and righteousness. Like the father, like
the son is the proverb best appropriately illustrated in
Chhotubhai's childhood as an initiation of a leader.
Witnessing Lallubhai being the leader of the village,
Chhotubhai too had taken up leadership of the youth. He
prepared a team of the young members of the village.
Together, they used to clean the village. The well and a trough
of water for cattle were cleaned up by the young team.
“At that time, 'Rentiabaras' (Gandhiji's birthday
celebration by working on spinning wheels) was a very
important and significant event…”, cherishing the memories
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