In an interview with Deepak Bhika, well-known optometrist, Elmarie Celliers got to know this business and family man better.
At ease and surrounded by somewhat intimidating eye-testing equipment, this soft-spoken gentleman took us on his journey through life.
As in all good stories, there is someone that made this journey possible.
Deepak pulls out an old photo of a man and his 11-year-old son in front of a ship in the Durban harbour.
The photo was taken in the early 1940s when his grandfather and father first came to South Africa from India.
His father later married and managed a grocery store in Naudé Street opposite the Dutch Reformed Church.
Deepak grew up and spent his early childhood in Cassim Park, where he attended Ermelo Combined School.
The primary school, then known as the Ermelo Indian School, had only 98 learners and four teachers, including the headmaster.
As there was no Indian high school in Ermelo, they commuted to Standerton every day to attend Stanwest High.
The bus left at 06:30 in the morning and Deepak says it wasn’t always easy getting up for school.
He jokingly recounts that, as with all teenagers, one doesn’t always feel like school and they sometimes had to improvise in Morgenzon for the bus not to make it in time.
Deepak studied optometry at the University of Durban-Westville.
Money was tight in those years, so he waitered at the Tropicana Hotel on weekends and weekdays he tutored junior students in neuro-anatomy.
In his final year, he received the Saks and Taylor Award and the Hilton Pike Award for the best clinician in all four universities.
After graduating with his B.Optom degree in 1990, he studied through the New England College of Optometry, Boston, USA.
He graduated with four advanced studies in ocular disease and pharmaceutical applications, neural basis of vision, therapeutic pharmaceutical agents and the treatment and management of ocular disease.
With his roots anchored deep in Ermelo, Deepak returned in 1992 to service the needs of his community and to be closer to his family, as his father’s health was deteriorating.
The conversation turns to his family and Deepak’s face lights up, while he proudly talks about them.
Deepak and his wife, Roshni, have a son (14) and two daughters (16 and 12).
His eldest daughter, Hemani, will be joining her brother, Anant, next year when they continue their schooling at Affies in Pretoria.
They are both talented tennis players and Anant wishes to pursue a tennis career.
Prajna is still at primary school and aspires to be a dancer.
When asked whether he sees a future for himself and his family in Ermelo, he replies that with a confluence of three national roads, Ermelo will always be a great investment.
“Where can you go home for lunch, then return to work, have no traffic issues and go and watch your kids play sport and then return to work? This is the life.”
Deepak says that starting elsewhere is possible, as the source of knowledge is experience.
As for the future, he says: “We will see how it unfolds regarding the kids and family. As you know, we have no control of the past or the future.”
He adds that he believes that the greatest gift you can give your children is “the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence”.
Deepak concludes with these words:
“I am extremely grateful to God who has been good to me and led me on this beautiful life’s journey. He provided me with an investment in knowledge, which always pays the best interest….a better life for my family.”
