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The compound where I stayed as a spirited child in Karachi consisted of three bungalows and the children of my age were all boys who would refuse to play with a girl. To be allowed entry into their gang I had to qualify by wearing a shirt and shorts and wear the tail of a squirrel, which I had caught, on my topi (cap)! Soon I was beating them at their own game — running faster, excelling at target shooting with the Diana airgun and climbing higher on trees. I loved climbing trees and even managed to climb high up into the thorny almond trees and eat the tastiest almonds. The boys by now were quite jealous and shouted out to me to give them the almonds. When I taunted them to come up and get them they were quite infuriated and shook the tree so much that I fell down and dislocated my shoulder. Instead of sympathizing with me, my father Nadirshah Gocal, a civil engineer, gave me a thrashing and forbade me to climb trees — but that didn’t deter me for long!

Once when I was playing in the garden I brought a small pebble/seed near my nostril and inhaled deeply. It went in and stuck in the nostril and wouldn’t come out. I was worried but couldn’t tell my father as he was already fed up with my pranks and I knew I would be thrashed! When everyone had sat down for dinner I declared that a small naphthalene ball had gone into my nostril while I was clearing the cupboard. My father was quite calm and said we would deal with it later. After dinner he brought some tapki (snuff) and made me smell it. I sneezed violently and lo and behold, the pebble came out like a shot. Once again I was soundly whacked and when my poor elder sister Gool tried to intervene she also got a few whacks and started crying. There was general bedlam with my mother Shirinbai registering strong protest at this corporeal punishment!

Another amusing incident I recall occurred when taking a walk with my masi (mother’s sister) in the Victoria Gardens. There was a statue of Queen Victoria with a grill of iron railings around it. Restless as I always was, I managed to stick my head in between two railings to get a better view of the statue but found I couldn’t get it out easily. My masi was a nervous type and began to panic and wicked as I was I quite nonchalantly told her that now my head would have to be cut! She almost fainted! Some people gathered when she started shouting and managed to maneuver my head out.

After school I went to the Government College, Lahore to do my BSc, where I stayed with my masa, Dr Eduljee Bharucha — a renowned and very popular physician with a tremendous zest for life. Providence brought my husband-to-be, Minoo and me together at Lahore. Minoo Shroff belonged to Delhi and was nominated by the Vicerine of India, Lady Irwin to study at King Edward Medical College at Lahore as there was no medical college for men in Delhi at that time! His father, Dr Sorabji Shroff, brought Minoo to my masa at Lahore and requested him to be his local guardian. The standing joke after that was that the Bharuchas looked after him so well that he got married to their niece!

In Lahore I represented my College in swimming in the inter college competition. I had learnt swimming at the age of four under the guidance of Ms Limboowala just a year after we moved from Bombay to Karachi. The people of Karachi loved water sports and we used to often have picnics and swim in the sea. My elder brother Keki who later joined the Air Force was also a very good swimmer. I was then sent to the Physical Education College at Saidapet, Madras for a year’s training. Returning to Lahore I taught physical education at Khalsa College. At the time of India’s partition I left Lahore for Delhi on a refugee train with everyone on tenterhooks. As the earlier physical education teacher at Delhi’s Lady Irwin College had just moved to Lahore I immediately found an opening. The girls were very fond of me and when the selection for permanent appointment came up they made sure they performed best under my instructions.

Ms Faraidoonji Rustomjee was the chairman of the College at that time and Rajkumari Amrit Kaur was the president. I remember an amusing incident, when not knowing who Rajkumari was (I was 18 and very raw), I asked to know her name, and the whole crowd round her burst out laughing. She said, "Oh just a well-wisher. As for my name, I am Rajkumari Amrit Kaur.” I could have bitten my tongue then. However, she was very well-known to and a patient of my father-in-law-to-be, Dr S. P. Shroff, and delighted in narrating the incident to him and my mother-in-law when she knew I was to become the wife of Dr Minoo S. Shroff and their daughter-in-law.

As I was a physical education teacher, Sir Gangaram Kaula who was also a founder member and treasurer of Lady Irwin College, asked me to extend my activities to the Indian Council of Child Welfare (ICCW). I used to give classes in Miranda House, Indraprastha College, St Thomas School, etc, in addition to the children at ICCW.

Many years later this gift of getting on very well with my students and wards led to an amusing situation. I was the manager of the Indian women’s team at the Asian Games in Tokyo and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales. The star athlete of the men’s team — Milkha Singh — who was in the Army, had a running battle with his manager, a senior services officer who expected him to follow Army protocol even during the Games. Finally the chef-de-mission, Ashwini Kumar placed Milkha Singh under my care so that he could concentrate unhindered on his training. Milkha Singh was an amazing athlete with immense dedication who trained very hard. After that day he always insisted that he be under my charge and addressed me as "Mummy.” He won the gold medal in the Commonwealth Games in 1958.

In both places the teams were entertained by the heads of state. It was at Cardiff that we witnessed the ceremony of the Queen anointing Prince Charles as the Prince of Wales. Prince Philip was a constant visitor to our camp.

I had served as honorary joint secretary (Women) for the Delhi Olympic Association for 10 years from 1948 and as honorary secretary Delhi Swimming Olympics, also for 10 years.

When Rajkumari Amrit Kaur was the health minister and sports minister in the Cabinet, she appointed me minority community lady member as government nominee in the Delhi Municipal Committee, for two terms of three years each.

I was secretary of the Delhi Parsi Anjuman Social Centre from 1949 and served on the Fund Raising Committee for the silver jubilee of the Dar-e-Meher. For nearly four years I was secretary of the Delhi Music Society and was instrumental in introducing foreign artistes to the Delhi public. 

Later, in deference to my ailing father-in-law and our Guruji, I gave up all these activities to take over the running of the house from my ageing mother-in-law and to help Minoo at the Dr Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital. I was thus appointed as Honorary Welfare Officer of the Hospital. I had to do the rounds of the wards, decide which patient was to be treated completely free and listen to any complaints and generally supervise the treatment given to the patients there.