Nadiad from Petlad: Storm start
The stormy nature of Vallabhbhai was shining from the school of Petlad. It was his daily habit of crying teachers, joking and pranking with fellow students. When they reached Nadiad to study more, this mischievous instinct knew wings. His courage and fearlessness at Nadiad’s school was such that he used to go to the bath instead of leaning against injustice. The first example of this fearless was his school’s first Satyagraha.
Nadiad’s first Satyagraha: Agarwala Sahib’s prank
Everyone knows that Sardar Patel’s first Satyagraha was the Satyagraha of 1918, but many years ago, Vallabhbhai had made his first satyagraha at the school of Nadiad. One day the teacher was engrossed in chatting in the Agarwala office and did not come to the classroom. As such, the students began singing loud songs, led by Vallabhbhai. Upon reaching the voice office, Agarwala sir rushed to class and started to bully a student. This injustice was not tolerated by Vallabhbhai. He stopped the teacher and said, “Why do you threaten him? If you were chatting in the office, what if we did not sing?”
The teacher was smoked and Vallabhbhai was removed from the class, but Vallabhbhai did not go alone. He called the fellow students with an eye point, and the whole class went out. The class was vacant all day, and the next day, the students did not enter the class without Vallabhbhai. The complaint was reached to Bharuch, the headmaster of the matter. He asked Vallabhbhai to apologize, but Vallabhbhai made it clear, “There was a teacher, he should apologize.” Eventually, the headmaster calmed the controversy by looking at Vallabhbhai’s fearlessness and rationality and asked everyone to sit back in the class.
Victory in Election: The first glimpse of the leadership
Vallabhbhai’s leadership qualities were also appearing in the student age. In Nadiad, the local correctional election was once heated up. Shri Mahanand, the teacher of the school, was nominated in the election, while a member of the family of Dhundhar Bhausaheb Desai of Nadiad was in front of him. In the meantime, Desai proudly said, “If the master won, I will shake my mustache!” This talk came to Vallabhbhai’s ear, and he decided to win his teacher. He formed a team of students, prepared a strategy and started campaigning. As a result, the teacher won Mahanand, and Desai lost. Vallabhbhai took out the victory procession with the students and kept the hairdresser in front and shouted in front of Desai’s house for an hour and a half, but Desai did not come out.
Naughty chapter
An interesting case of Vallabhbhai’s naughty instinct was made at Vadodara High School. At that time it was said that English education is Best in Vadodara. Thus, Vallabhbhai went to Vadodara in the seventh year to improve English, but as soon as he arrived at the high school, Vallabhbhai started giving storm. Once the teacher who once teached Sanskrit and Gujarati criticized, “Who does not know Sanskrit, does not even know Gujarati.” Vallabhbhai immediately replied, “If we all lived in Sanskrit, who do you teach Gujarati?” The teacher was angry with this and kept Vallabhbhai standing on the last bench all day, and sentenced to write one to ten thighs 100 times.
However, Vallabhbhai did not write the plateau. The teacher harshly asked, “Vallabh, do you have to write a plateau?” Vallabhbhai said in the present, “Buses were brought, but one of the beats came out, so everyone fled!” The teacher’s anger reached the seventh heaven. He threatened Vallabhbhai and urged him to write a plateau the next day. However, the next day, Vallabhbhai moved a step further to joke. The two words “Busse Pada” wrote the paper in front of the teacher, then the talk reached the principal. Going there, Vallabhbhai said, “Sir, such a punishment is a bit. If something is written from the course, then okay, but if I write one of the plates in the metric year, someone would consider me foolish.” The Principal listened to Vallabhbhai and relieved the punishment by maintaining the limit of the teacher. It may be said that Sardar Patel himself told Mahadevbhai.
However, this was not the last chapter of Vallabhbhai’s storm. Two months later, the mathematical teacher also had a front. They were probably not already interested in mathematics, then there was no other reason. They were raw in mathematics. While teaching a teacher mathematics, Vallabhbhai used to play the stage on the kerosene box. The teacher was so upset that Vallabhbhai was expelled from the school and Vallabhbhai finally returned to Nadiad after the riots in Vadodara. When his maternal uncle Dungarbhai asked the reason for his return, Vallabhbhai replied, “There is no one to teach a master.” With such a mighty, he completed his studies up to the metric at Nadiad’s high school. The mathematics failed in the metric examination, so the next year, he passed the metric at the age of twenty -two in 1897. Vallabhbhai was not the only prank, joking, his elder brother Vitthalbhai once crossed the limits. Vitthalbhai wrote a letter to his own neighbor in the name of someone else, reporting that his son -in -law was dead. After reading the postcard, the neighbor broke his little daughter’s bangles and wore a widow’s garment.
Vallabhbhai Patel’s attraction towards the British
When the family of the daughter arrived in Sasaria to sit, her son -in -law came to welcome. Seeing the son -in -law, everyone understood that someone had made a joke with us. Someone tells you that if Vallabhbhai Patel was a British diva in his youth, you would not believe it, but in a speech in 1921, Vallabhbhai himself revealed his own youth, then education system, and his fascination with English culture. At that time there were huge misconceptions about India in their minds. Not only that, he was attracted to the English and the British. However, as his understanding developed, his belief gathered dust. In the speech, he said that he was vividly imitating the British in the youth. He believed that imitating foreigners in a country like India is the Best task. The reason behind this belief was the education system of the time, which considered Indians light and disqualified. It was poisoned by education that Indians are worthy of slavery, while the British are the Best and capable of saving India.
In the same speech, the government also spoke of how much he was going to go to England, taking interest in interest. He was eager to see and know the British country, but the situation of the family was normal and there was no money to go to England. They found out that if there was a 10-15 thousand rupees, they could go to England. At the suggestion of a friend, he went to the Eder State hopes to get interest from the court, but returned to disappoint. From this experience, they realized that if you want to go abroad, you would have to make money for themselves. Every parent had the desire to be a child and to be clever, and the same wish was to Zaverbhai. That is why Zaverbhai used to take Vallabhbhai to the field every morning. Not with the intention of doing the field, but to call and call Vallabhbhai on the way to the farm. The seeds of fight against the injustice of the British were also planted in Vallabhbhai’s mind because of the dignitaries in the field with their father. Because Zaverbhai, who was working in the field, has heard the stories of 1857 rebellion to Vallabhbhai. On the basis of which they understood that the main cause of the failure of the revolution was the lack of unity and the inside of the inside. Perhaps that is why he emphasized the need for unity in the fight for independence, but even after the country was liberated, he prioritized the integration of the country princely state.
Vallabhbhai’s marriage
Very few people will know that Vallabhbhai’s marriage was done only when he was studying in the fourth school in Petlad. The fourth of that time is today‘s eighth standard. When he was married in 1893, Vallabhbhai was 18 years old. When Zaverba’s age will be 12-13 years old. However, according to the customs of the Patidar society, this age was not considered young. No law exists when the bride should be the minimum age of the bride. Apart from this, the bride-to-be in 5-7 years of marriage, according to the customs prevalent among the Patidars at that time. That is, when Vallabhbhai’s household started, his studies were over.
Ahmedabad, Gujarat
June 01, 2025 9:00 AM IST