A seed, as it grows, starts to lay down roots. The roots that are healthy and strong, for not only they have to provide nutrition but also strength for the tree to grow and be strong for many years. Only then a trunk grows, and in its mighty strengths grow the flimsy shoots that are the branches.
The roots are hard to trace, but trace them we must.
On the banks of the Bhadreswar River in Gujarat lived a man called Odhavji. Very little is known about him. Probably a tailor and was of the tailor caste. Industrious, hard working, he started the clan often called the Bhadresas, but the name varied- added on would be Bhadressa, Bhadresha etc.
He had two sons- Samji and Meghji. Meghji had a son called Devdas. He had three children, Jiva, Karamsi andArjan.
Jiva's son was called Anand. Karamsi had five sons.
Let us go backwards now as it gets confusing.
We were five brothers. Jamnadas was the oldest. I, Govind was next. Then there was Tarachand (Tulsidas), Magan, and Ramnik.
Our dad was called Nanjibhai. His siblings were- Radha, Purshotam, Keshavji, Vali and Kadvi.
Keshavji married Jamkur, and later------. With them, he had several children- Arvind, Anil, Ketan, and the girls were- Prabha, Hansa, Lata, Shanta, and Vasu.
As we follow the branches of this tree, we come across his dad, Meghji, the Ghela, (devraj), Raja, Ramji and later Karamsi. Further down the root is Devdas, Meghji, with Odhavji at the end, beyond which is is untraceable.
Starting with my family, we were five brothers. I married Dinu (Dinbala), in Mombasa on July 19, 1958. We had four children- Sheila, Anita, Raaj and Kirti.
Sheila married Reginald and had three daughters, and two grand children. Anita married Robert and had three children- Cecilia Zaver, Eric, and Julian. They adopted Sophi, who was from Ethiopia.
My brother Jamnadas married Muktaben, and had Rasik, Jyotsna and Sangeeta. Jyotsna married Andrews, who is Polish, and had Natasha, Alexandra and James.
Tarachand married Rambha. They had Rita, Charu and Mukesh. Mukesh married Neela and had Dipti, Sheena and Shivanie.
Magan married Chandrika and had three boys- Sanjeev, Raajev and Ajay. Sanjeev married Leslie. They have one daughter- Mia. R. married Hilary and they have a son - Dilon.