I remember seeing Ela ben first, with her husband Ramesh Bhai at my father's exhibition. I was a child then and they both looked very simple. Like most of my father's friends who were Gandhians, they wore very simple Khadi clothes and lived a simple life.
Ela ben affectionately asked me what I am interested in and about my studies, etc. She kind of reminded me of my mother or aunt, foi jeva. That was my first encounter with her. Subsequently, when I was growing up in Ahmedabad, I used to read a lot about her, and also meet her often socially and otherwise, at some of the functions that would take place in the city.