From Irrawaddy to Huron

By Piyush Kothary

To achieve anything in life an individual needs perseverance and hope. Nothing must deter one from their dream.

This is a story of one man's struggle, courage, tenacity and good luck. This story reflects human strengths and weaknesses across three generations. It is a story of the writer's ambitious mother and his father's dedication to family, even at the risk of his own life. It's a story of the writer's own struggle from childhood to college, his penniless journey to the United States with his ambitious wife, where together they forged a happy and prosperous life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796074253

Piyush Kothary

Dr. Piyush C. Kothary was born in Rangoon, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), during World War II. Piyush holds a degree in chemistry. He taught at St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai, India, and then moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1971. Prior to his move to the United States, Piyush married Dr. Sarla Parekh in 1970. They moved to Ann Arbor and dedicated a combined eighty years of service to the University of Michigan Health System in research and teaching. They built a life in Ann Arbor that they adore, filled with professional accomplishments, travel, and loving friends and family. They have two wonderful daughters and two lovely granddaughters. Since the day they were married, they worked to create the life of their dreams. Sarla passed away on January 20, 2015. Previously, Piyush has published a poetry book, “A Journey of Love and Romance,” in memory of their lives together.

Book preview

From

IRRAWADDY

to

HURON

PIYUSH KOTHARY

Copyright © 2019 by Piyush Kothary. 791563

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

ISBN:     Softcover     978-1-7960-7426-0

EBook     978-1-7960-7425-3

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019919575

Rev. date: 11/29/2019

CONTENTS

Chapter 1. My Parents

1.1. My Father

1.2. My Mother – A Visionary

1.3. Life in Rangoon

Chapter 2. World War II: The World was on Fire

2.1. My Birth

2.2. From Rangoon to Kolkata

2.3. Bapuji’s Dramatic Recovery

Chapter 3. Baa: An Ambitious Woman’s New Life

3.1. Rajkot

3.2. Baa’s Family

3.3. Naani

Chapter 4. Japanese Retreat, D-Day and Back to the Glory Days

Chapter 5. Life in Rajkot

5.1. Primary School in Rajkot

5.2. Planting the Seeds

Chapter 6. Bombay

6.1. Baa’s Continued Mission

6.2. Family and Business

6.3. The Business Declines

6.4. Three Hundred Rupees: My Sister’s Fate

Chapter 7. My Role and My Family

7.1. Education

7.2. My Mother’s Sickness

7.3. Learning to Balance

Chapter 8. College and the 1960s

8.1. The United States

8.2. Bapuji’s Outlook

Chapter 9. A Glimmer of Hope Emerges

9.1. In Search of Higher Education

9.2. Graduate School Admissions

9.3. Luck – Part I

9.4. Luck – Part II

9.5. Creating a Savings Account

Chapter 10. Strategies to Rescue a Sinking Ship

10.1. Our Home

10.2. My Sister’s Marriage

10.3. Continuing Improvements

Chapter 11. My Growth

Chapter 12. Brothers and Sister

12.1. Navnitbhai

12.2. Mainaki and Paresh

12.3. Rasikbhai

12.4. Kothary Pride

Chapter 13. Behold, Sarla, a Quietly Feisty Lady

Chapter 14. The Beginning of the End of My Life in India

Chapter 15. A New Life in the United States

Chapter 16. New Voices Shaped my Life

Chapter 17. A Game of Perseverance and Tenacity

Chapter 18. Five Dollars a Week

Chapter 19. Sarla Arrives in the United States

Chapter 20. New Beginnings

20.1. Ties Back Home

20.2. Sarla’s Plan

20.3. Sarla’s Brother

20.4. Rudyard Kipling, My Father and My Job Interview

20.5. Our First Daughter

20.6. Baa’s Death

20.7. Paresh comes to the United States

20.8. Our First House

20.9. The Birth of Our Second Daughter

Chapter 21. A New Dawn

21.1. Finance Dreams

21.2. Bapuji’s Surgery

21.3. New Dawn and Another Fluke

21.4. Travel and Vacations

Chapter 22. The Golden Period

22.1. Mentorship and Teaching

22.2. A Memorable Impact – Part I

22.3. A Memorable Impact – Part II

Chapter 23. Our Daughters

Chapter 24. Chamanbhai’s Son

24.1. Chamanbhai

24.2. Our Trip to Rajkot

24.3. Our Trip to Kolkata

Chapter 25. My Mother and Sarla’s Cooking

Chapter 26. Back to Square One

26.1. Sarla and Pancreatic Cancer

26.2. The Last Twenty Months with Sarla

Chapter 27. After Sarla’s Passing

From Irrawaddy to Huron

A story of my father’s long walk across the Irrawaddy River from Burma (now Myanmar) to India and my walk through the bitter cold and snowy winters in Michigan on the Huron River

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank my daughters, Dr. Shilpa Kothary and Priya Kothary, and granddaughters, Deven Amrute and Misha and Mayla Sethi for bringing joy to my life.

My sincere thank you to Priya for spending time to edit the book. It took over two decades to write and craft this book and it would never have been published without Priya.

-Piyush C. Kothary

CHAPTER 1.

My Parents

ERPATS.jpg

1.1. My Father

M y father, Chamanlal D. Kothary, son of Dalpatram A. Kothary, was a rice merchant and rice mill owner. We called him Bapuji.

Bapuji was born on August 4, 1904, in Burma (now Myanmar). He was the second member of the Kothary family to receive a high school diploma. The first was his paternal uncle or Kaka who eventually became his business partner. After attending Samaldas College in Bhavnagar, he was admitted to the College of Engineering in Poona (now Pune). Shortly after, when Bapuji was just 20 years old, his mother passed away. He decided to drop out of school and move back to his hometown of Jetpur, a small town in the state of Saurashtra (now part of Gujarat). Bapuji was good at mathematics and might have been a successful engineer; however, he was also an emotional man who had a great sense responsibility for his family.

Bapuji’s father and his five younger siblings, two brothers and three sisters, lived in Jetpur. He married his first wife and they had one daughter named Dayaben. Both Bapuji’s first wife and Dayaben passed away from tuberculosis, a disease that had no treatment prior to the discovery of penicillin. The following year, he married my mother and began a new life with her.

ERMATS.jpg

1.2. My Mother – A Visionary

My mother’s maiden name was Labhuben Goda. She was born on March 11, 1911 to Durlabhaji Premji Goda, a legal brief writer in the District of Gondal. At the age of 14 she married Bapuji and moved from Gondal to Jetpur. My mother was a beautiful woman. She was well respected, generous and known for her loving and kind nature. She sacrificed her entire youth to raise my father’s siblings.

We called my mother Baa. Baa was a very ambitious woman and realized the limited future her and Bapuji had in Jetpur. Baa had received a small amount of money (35 rupees) from her father as emergency funds. She gave the money to Bapuji and told him to go to Rangoon (now Yangon) to pursue business opportunities. Bapuji left for Rangoon in search of a job in 1928. Baa was just 17 and Bapuji was 24 years old.

1.3. Life in Rangoon

Kaka was working in Rangoon as an accountant for the R. Jamal Company and helped Bapuji find a job within the organization, also as an accountant. Baa stayed in Jetpur during this time and Bapuji commuted back and forth from Burma. Baa took great care of Bapuji’s siblings; she fed them, helped them with their studies and ultimately assisted in ensuring their marriage. Their financial condition improved steadily over the years. My elder siblings were born and kept my mother very busy.

Bapuji and Kaka decided to start a rice milling business. By 1937 they had made significant expansions, the business was strong and their wealth was on an upward trend. Bapuji was able to buy multiple homes for his family and we all moved to Rangoon. Baa was very happy there and continued to raise my elder brothers and sisters. My mother told me those were the best days of her life.

image1.jpg

Pagoda in Rangoon, Myanmar

Bapuji considered it his duty to take care of his siblings since they had very little education or training. He financed a new business for his sister’s husband and bought a home for his other sister. He gave his brothers responsibilities and partnership stakes in his business. My mother cautioned Bapuji, however, her comments and concerns received a hostile reception. Unfortunately my mother was right and his decision came at a huge cost. The business collapsed soon after he stepped down as Director.

We could not identify exactly what had happened at the time; however, in retrospect the cause of the failure became clear. A successful businessman needs a vision, hard work, discipline, knowledge, the ability to compromise and a passion for excellence. His brothers did not bear these traits, as they had never worked from the bottom up. Baa was an intelligent and clear thinker, but when it came to Bapuji she had a hard time cracking (in Baa’s words) the hollow coconut under the hairless scalp (Bapuji was bald like most Kothary men).

CHAPTER 2.

World War II:

The World was on Fire

2.1. My Birth

It was September 4, 1940, five o’clock in the morning

The sun was trying to touch the soil

Darkness was disappearing from the earth

I was born

My father’s astrologers said I have a Raj Yog

That means he would live like a king

A king’s title comes from the kingdom

Kingdoms are always under the threat of attack

Kings fight to retain their kingdoms

Kings live in luxury

Raj Yog comes with turbulence, upheavals, and prosperity

T he world was gripped with fear as Adolph Hitler’s German Army, located in both Europe and Japan, was at war with more than half of the world’s population. This included England, its allies and its colonies like India and Burma.

My mother and father used to tell me that even though I was born on the placid, early morning of September 4, 1940, it was not only a turbulent time for Bapuji but it was also a very uncertain world. The Germans were bombing London. The German Navy had put a blockade around the British Islands. France had surrendered. In Burma, Aug San (considered to be the father of Burma) had formed his army and was asking the British to leave Burma. Mahatma Gandhi was asking the British to leave India.

My mother was worried about the well being of our family. She was very happy in Burma and had no desire to leave. On the other hand, Bapuji was anticipating the end of both their rice milling business and their inevitable departure from Burma. Despite his worries, he had made no preparations for a move to India. Kaka was busy transferring his wealth, buying properties and even starting a textile business in India. Kaka thought India was more politically stable than Burma and saw a better future there.

Bapuji’s business, in partnership with Kaka, was thriving until 1941 when the Japanese attacked Burma. I was an infant and had four older siblings. Bapuji and Kaka made the very smart decision to return to their native home of Jetpur. In the summer of 1941, Bapuji put our family on the last civilian ship that left Burma for a voyage to Calcutta (now known as Kolkata, West Bengal). At the end of 1941, the Japanese had begun air raids on Rangoon. Bapuji