Standing before their clinic in Colaba, Dr Pranay Pradeep and his father, Pradeep Kumar, are teary-eyed. Life has come full circle. Forty-five years ago, Pradeep had started out as a compounder at this very clinic on a princely salary of Rs 150. Today, his son, Pranay, a dentist, has bought the 55-year-old clinic from its benevolent owner, Dr Dinesh Toprani.

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In 1973, aged 16, Pradeep Kumar started working as a compounder for Dr Toprani, a general physician. He had five mouths to feed on his salary of Rs 150. Fortunately for Pradeep, the son of a dhobi, Dr Toprani, now 82, egged him on to study further. Under his guidance, Pradeep completed his MA, LLM and PhD in law, which earned him a job with the Reserve Bank of India. Today, he is an advocate with the Bombay High Court.