Mohan Prabhu Ottava Canada
Mr. Mohan Prabhu with
his wife
Mrs.
Clareen D'Souza & children
Mohan Prabhu Ottava Canada
Mr. Mohan Prabhu with
his wife
Mrs.
Clareen D'Souza & children
I was one of nine children not including the two who had passed away eighty years ago when they were infants before my older brother and I were born. My position is somewhere in the middle both in age and in order of birth. All the rest of us, ranging in age from sixty-five to eighty seven, are still around, perhaps a record in longevity.
We are scattered now; three of us have been living in Canada for the past 32 to 40 years, one in England for 44 years and one in Switzerland for almost 50 years.
At sixteen, after passing SSLC, I along with my brother who was two years older was shipped out to Bombay to a world of work in order to support our parents and the remaining five siblings. My father was then just a year away to retirement. Our older sister was married and our eldest brother had been working for eight years in Bombay.
My second home was in Bombay, first with my two older brothers and then with our parents who joined us and lived with us along with our younger siblings who had stayed behind in Mangalore for seven years with our mother to complete their basic education. Up until 1957 my name was Michael Antony Castelino. That year I legally changed it to Mohan Anand Prabhu.
After thirteen years in Bombay, working and when morning colleges were established in 1953, furthering my education, I left India for higher studies abroad. I chose a career in law because it was the easiest profession to get into. I spent over four years in London, working and studying, with a brief interlude of four summer months in Frankfurt, Germany in 1963, where I also worked.
My entire education after SSLC was accomplished whilst working, thanks to the encouragement of the Unilever Organization, my employer in Bombay and London, whose management was generous in giving me time off to attend classes.
After completing studies in London I returned to Bombay hoping to find work. I tried for three months but was unsuccessful, though, I must admit, I did not knock on every door in India. So I decided to emigrate to Canada.
Meanwhile, in Bombay, I met a wonderful girl, highly qualified as a high school teacher and before I realized it I was madly in love with her. She happened to be a close relative - my first cousin's daughter! She agreed to come to Canada only we first got married.
We were married within two months of our first meeting, after receiving dispensation. That was 40 years ago. I had to pick up my Canadian immigrant visa in London (where I was selected) by the middle of May.
So, soon after we were married, I left Bombay, went to London and two weeks later sailed for Quebec City, Canada. I arrived in Canada on 19th May 1965. Forty years ago. My wife joined me in Toronto three months later. Just over a year after taking up residence in Toronto, Columbia University in the City of New York offered me a postgraduate fellowship, where we spent a year.
We returned to Canada in 1967. We have been Canadian citizens since 1972. We have lived in three Canadian provinces during our entire married life from Day Four. My wife earned a second Master's degree in Ottawa and taught children and later became a resource teacher for the Ottawa School Board. She recently retired after thirty years of teaching.
2005 is a special year for us as it marks three fortieth anniversaries;
our wedding,
our landing in Canada and
my entry into the legal profession.
Although I have lived on three different continents, much longer than in India, I have a special bond, spiritual as well as physical, to Mangalore where I was born and raised during formative years, and this attachment will always occupy primary place in my heart.