Autobiograpy Of Gnani Purush A.M.Patel Autobiograpy Of Gnani Purush A.M.Patel | Page 37

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bad influence on the people I hung around with. Parents often
claim that their child became spoiled because of the influence of
the bad company he keeps. How can they be sure that it was
not their son who influenced the other boys negatively? If all the
parents of the same group of boys claim their son has become
spoiled, then who is truly the one with bad influence? They
should at least do some investigating? Instead they should say
that their son is on the wrong track; similarly I had gone off on
a wrong track. I indulged in smoking bidis, cigarettes and the
water pipe. I would go out frequently and eat jalebi (sweet
snack) and ganthia (savory snack). That had caused me to fail
my exams. What was the reason behind me failing my metric
exams? One cannot just fail without a reason!
There was an ice-cream shop at the station. I was staying
at a nearby hostel and my brother remained at home. If I were
to stay at home, I would not have the freedom to go out and
enjoy myself. So, on the pretext of being able to study better
for exams, I stayed in a hostel. In those days the food served
in hostels was good and pure. So I ate well and enjoyed life.
In the evenings some friends and I would get together at the
ice-cream shop. We would sing film songs and eat ice cream.
Other boys were also there to take exams, just like myself. I
had no problem making friends because birds of the same feathers
always flock together. I did not have to go out looking for such
friends. So I failed my exams!
My father Muljibhai and elder brother Manibhai had
conspired to make me a collector. One of my relatives was a
collector and so they wanted me to become one too. I had
overheard them talking about it. I thought that if I were to
become a collector then I would also have a commissioner over
me who would censure me and so I did not want to be a
collector. I thought to myself that I have acquired this human
birth with great difficulty and what would be the point of it if I