Next Hearing To Take Place On June 9; Parsi Trust’s Petition Says Burial Or Cremation Of Parsis Succumbing To Covid-19 Is Against Their Religion

The Central government on Thursday sought time from the Gujarat High Court to file its reply to a petition seeking right to perform customary burial of Parsis succumbing to Covid. At present, as per the central government Covid norms, Parsis are either buried or cremated against their traditional burial Dokhmenashini that involves placing the dead body in the Tower of Silence while exposed to sun.

The counsel for the central government sought time to file the reply by saying that they are yet to receive the copy of the plea. The state government’s reply would depend on the stand taken by the Centre which has been given time till June 8 to file its reply. HC will hear the case on June 9.What the petition says The petition was filed by Surat Parsi Panchayat Board citing lack of scientific evidence that a dead body can transmit Covid-19. The court had issued notices to the central government, the state government, Surat Municipal Corporation and the Surat Collector.

The plea said authorities were not allowing the community members to follow their religious right which is fully protected under the Constitution. Instead, they were being forced to opt for cremation or burial. The central government guideline on March 15 last year is silent about the mode of disposal of Parsis who died due to Covid-19.

It further said, “Fire is considered an agent of purity whereas the dead body is considered impure in Zoroastrianism. Therefore, disposal of dead bodies through cremation is against the faith and religious ethos of the Parsi Community. Moreover, the burial is not possible for the reason that there is no burial ground allocated to the community. The other communities, such as Muslims and Christians, do not allow others to use their burial grounds.”

It also said, “The practice of burial is not in accordance with the Parsi religious tenets. Ground burial is as sinful as cremation, since it pollutes the ground and surroundings. Hence, the only option available is a cremation. Disposal of their near and dear ones through cremation or burial, due to the misinterpretation of the present government guidelines, has subjected Parsis to immense emotional

trauma.”

The work from home norm during Covid-hit 2020 delivered some good news for the Parsi community which saw a record 61 births, assisted through the Centre’s Jiyo Parsi scheme aimed at arresting a decline in the community’s numbers which added up to all of 57,000 in the 2011 census.

Launched in 2013-14, the scheme, supported by the minority affairs ministry, has seen an additional 22 births this year with the total number of newborns now standing at 321 as of June. The gains seem small but are precious for the community that has contributed handsomely to Indian national life before and after independence.

Article by Ambika Pandit | TNN

A fast dwindling population count that stood at 1.14 lakh in 1941 prompted the Centre to launch the Jiyo Parsi scheme in 2013-14. A year-wise break-up shows that while in the first year, 16 babies were born, the number rose to 38 the next year, went down to 28 in 2016 and then rose to 58 in 2017. It dipped to 38 in 2018 but grew to 59 in 2019 and 61 in 2020.

The data regarding 321 children pertains largely to couples who benefited from medical reimbursements offered under Jiyo Parsi for medical interventions like fertility treatments, assisted reproductive technologies and counselling to seek medical help given the low birth rates in the community.

“Going by the data, 2020 saw a new high and this, in a way, can be attributed to many couples starting fertility treatment during the pandemic as work from home gave them flexibility in working hours and made visits to hospitals and clinics less stressful. One saw couples taking this opportunity — of the entire family being together at all times — as a good opportunity to decide to start a family,” said Shernaz Cama, director of Unesco Parzor and national director of Jiyo Parsi scheme.

She said the other reason for the increase in birth rates was due to changes in the Jiyo Parsi scheme in 2017. The HOC (health of the community) component took care of elderly dependants in a family and also brought in a child care scheme that helped couples with financial assistance. “In the medical category, we also included and ensured financial assistance would be extended for those who conceived through ART right up to delivery and discharge from hospital,” Cama added.

However, the pandemic brought its own share of challenges. For instance, Cama said, a woman who conceived through ART tested positive for Covid-19 during her sixth month of pregnancy and was hospitalised for a few weeks. After treatment, she was advised rest and has now delivered a healthy baby. Shahnaaz Dalal, 29, from Mumbai, spoke to TOI about her journey. She conceived in the middle of last year and was supported under the Jiyo Parsi scheme which helped her tide through the tough phase and give birth to a daughter in March. Dalal said the work from home phase clearly helped her go through her pregnancy and post-birth care with much more ease.

Cama said while the pandemic did put the brakes on offline advocacy activities, the Jiyo Parsi team went online organising seminars and holding telephonic counselling. How far advocacy has worked will show up only in the 2021 census. This will be an important milestone that will reflect any success in arresting or even slowing the decline in population. Studies conducted in the past to assess the reasons for the decline pitched a worrisome picture of there being an average of one child below the age of 10 in nine families.

The hospital had played a crucial role during the 2009 Swine flu outbreak and even now, before PMC could upgrade its hospitals with ventilators and tertiary care, Sassoon was the only government hospital providing tertiary care to Covid-19 patients

A panoramic view of Sassoon hospital on the 75th anniversary of BJ Medical College, which is attached to the hospital. (Shankar Narayan/HT PHOTO)

The Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College (BJMC), which is attached to Sassoon General Hospital, is celebrating its 75th foundation day on Wednesday, June 23. The hospital has played a pivotal role in providing tertiary care to not just residents of Pune, but also to districts in the state. Students from BJMC are recognised internationally for their published work in international journals and medical services provided by them at the hospital.

The hospital had played a crucial role during the 2009 Swine flu outbreak and even now, before PMC could upgrade its hospitals with ventilators and tertiary care, Sassoon was the only government hospital providing tertiary care to Covid-19 patients.

Dr Shashikala Sangle, aged 64, retired on May 31. She has been associated with the hospital for the past 45 years since she was a student and headed the department of Medicine.

Dr Sangle said, “BJMC has definitely carved its niche as being reputed for generating the most honest and hardworking alumni and staff. I had a student who wanted to study further in the US and her examiners who saw her report and saw the BJMC name, without any further questions admitted her. The decades of hard work has earned this name. BJ has produced many important medical research works.”

Dr Sangle also describes the Swine flu outbreak period. She said, “When we look at it in retrospect, Swine flu was not as big as Covid-19. We were able to manage it in just one building. However, with Covid-19, the sheer numbers and the complications and also the post Covid-19 complications are a bigger challenge. However, even during the pandemic our cardiac catheterisation lab was functioning smoothly and also chemotherapy of cancer patients continued. We took all due precautions and tests and ensured that other vital routine treatments are not hampered.”

While the hospital was founded in 1867, the BJ Medical school was founded in 1871, after completing 75 years, the school was expanded to BJ Medical College in 1946.

BJ Medical school and the Sassoon hospital campus first opened in the year 1871. (Courtesy: BJ medical college)

Right from its foundation till now the hospital has been supported through charities and CSR funds form the community and philanthropists.

On June 23, 1946, BJ Medical College was founded and Dr B. G Kher, head of the Bombay government, laid the foundation stone. The college has been named after Parsi philanthropist Byramjee Jeejeebhoy who donated the land in 1871. The medical course of MBBS was affiliated to the University of Poona (Pune) in 1949.

Some of the historic moments in the hospital include the birth of Avtar Meher Baba who was born in the old maternity ward in the hospital, and the father of the nation, Mahatma, Gandhi who was operated upon for emergency appendectomy in 1924 by a British surgeon Col Murdoch with an Indian anaesthetist Dr Datey in attendance. The main building of BJMC was inaugurated by Dr Radha Krishnan in 1952. The first Principal of the BJ Medical College, which started with 50 students, was Dr BB Dikshit, a renowned academician

Annually 200 students are admitted for MBBS and 143 for post-graduation. At any given time, now, 1,700 students are on the campus with more than 2,000 staff including 268 faculty members. Presently, courses of MBBS, MD, MS, PhD, Diplomas, MCh (CVTS), MSc, GNM, BSc Nursing, DMLT, PGDMCH, and PGDGM are offered here.

Some of the path-breaking research works by the college are Dr Dikshit’s work on the role of acetylcholine in sleep and Dr Bhende’s discovery of the Bombay blood group. The hospital also has its name in the Jablonski’s Dictionary of syndromes, for the syndrome discovered, by Dr Ganla and Dr MJ Narsimhan.

In the last two decades, the colleges has been sought out by many research institutes including Department of Science & technology (DST), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Outreach services in mental health, preventive medicine, human reproduction research, tribal research, through national agencies like ICMR, and international agencies like WHO and UNICEF got underway. With the initiation of large-scale research projects the Institutional Ethics Committee was born. The Infosys super speciality building on the campus is catering to super speciality services for patients.

A six-week extended nevirapine (SWEN) study was conducted with this grant over the period of 2002-2007 for prevention of mother to infant transmission of HIV. This landmark study was published in Lancet (2008), which led to modification of guidelines by WHO for prevention of mother to infant transmission of HIV in breastfeeding population in resource poor areas. This gave BJMC the capability of international grade research.

After this successful demonstration of research capability, NIH USA granted Clinical Trial Unit to BJMC in collaboration with JHU for 2008-2014. BJMC-JHU application in response to RFA of NIH was among the first five amongst applications from all over the world.

In 2005, through the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) the HIV treatment center (ART) was started giving treatment free of charge. Presently more than 24,000 HIV infected patients are registered in the ART centre and 12,000 are on free ART. BJMC is recognised Government TB treatment centre with 4,000 tuberculosis patients/suspects per year.

BJMC and Sassoon helped fight the 2009 H1N1 (Swine Flu) outbreak in Pune and Maharashtra. In February 2010, BJ also promptly handled the casualties of German Bakery bomb blast.

Prominent community donations include food for all patients prepared by donation from the Shrimant Dagadusheth Halwai Ganapati Trust and the hospital has also contributed when it provided complete medical coverage to the athletes who participated in 30th Asian Athletics Games at Balewadi, Pune.

Dr Murlidhar Tambe, dean BJMC said, “Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, we cannot celebrate it as a grand event. However, the hospital has proven its worth in time. For our 2025 vision board we had proposed a Cancer hospital, a dental college, physiotherapy college and multiple super-specialities, for which we have submitted our proposal to the government. Hopefully, we get approval for some. The research work of students from BJMC has been recognised globally and also the care provided by our staff and students is noteworthy. Now is the time to expand and introduce new courses of UG and PG in various faculties.”

Hurun Research and EdelGive Foundation today released the 2021 EdelGive Hurun Philanthropists of the Century, a ranking of the world’s most generous individuals from the last 100 years

Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, founder of the Tata Group, has topped the EdelGive Hurun Philanthropists of the Century. The report pegs the current value of his donation – mainly to education and healthcare – at $102.4 billion with the start of his key endowments way back in 1892.

Article by Puneet Wadhwa | Business Standard

Tata is the only Indian in the top 10 list. The other Indian among the top 50 is Azim Premji, former chairman of Wipro, who is ranked 12th. Bill Gates & Melinda French Gates, Henry Wellcome, Howard Hughes and Warren Buffett are among the top 5. Mackenzie Scott, the former wife of Jeff Bezos, Donated $8.5 billion directly to charities, most ever in a single year by a living donor.

The ranking is based on Total Philanthropic Value, calculated as the value of the assets adjusted for inflation, together with the sum of gifts or distributions to date. The data was derived from publicly available sources and in certain cases directly as shared by the foundations.

Jamsetji Tata, known for his ventures within the cotton and pig iron industry, set up Tata Iron and Steel Works Company (TISCO) in Jamshedpur, now known as Tata Steel in Jamshedpur. Founded in 1907, Tata Steel now operates in 26 countries including India, Netherlands and United Kingdom, and employs around 80,500 people, according to reports.

“The total philanthropic value of Tata is made up of 66 per cent of Tata Sons, estimated at $100 billion, solely based on the value of listed entities,” the EdelGive Hurun Philanthropists of the Century report said. CLICK HERE FOR THE TOP 10 LIST

Wipro’s Premji, on the other hand, agreed to give away at least half of his wealth by signing the Giving Pledge in 2013. He started with a $2.2 billion donation to the Azim Premji Foundation, which focused on education in India. He topped the EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List for 2020.

Around the world

The world’s 50 most generous individuals in the last century came from five countries, according to the EdelGive Hurun report, overwhelmingly led by the US with 39, followed by 5 from the UK, China (3), India (2) and Portugal & Switzerland (1 each). Their donations amounted to $832 billion, of which $503 billion are in foundations today and $329 billion have been disbursed in the last century.

“It is surprising that Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have not made the cut in this list. The stories of the world’s biggest philanthropists of the last century tells the story of modern philanthropy. The legacies of the world’s earliest billionaires such as Carnegie and Rockefeller, through to the Bill Gates and Warren Buffett’s of today, show how wealth created has been redistributed,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report.

Adding: “Many of the philanthropists made the donation in the second generation rather than the first, such as the story of the Ford Foundation, which was set up by the son of Henry Ford.”

The top 50 individuals, according to the report, collectively contributed $30 billion, or 6 per cent, of their total endowments as annual grants. With $8.5 billion donations, MacKenzie Scott is the biggest annual grant maker followed by Warren Buffett ($2.7 billion) and Bill & Melinda Gates ($2.5 billion).

The other Indian on the list is Azim Premji of Wipro, who has virtually given his entire fortune of $22 billion for philanthropic causes

Tata Group founder ranked world’s top philanthropist in 100 years. Another Indian in top 50

Article in Live Mint

Not Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, but Indian industry’s doyen Jamsetji Tata has emerged as the biggest philanthropist globally in the last 100 years by donating $102 billion, as per a list of top-50 givers prepared by Hurun Report and EdelGive Foundation.

Tata, the founder of what has now become a group spanning interests from salt to software, is ahead of others like Bill Gates and his now-estranged wife Melinda who have donated $74.6 billion, Warren Buffet ( $37.4 billion), George Soros ($34.8 billion) and John D Rockefeller ($26.8 billion), the list showed.

“Whilst American and European philanthropists may have dominated the thinking of philanthropy over the last century, Jamsetji Tata, founder of India’s Tata Group, is the world’s biggest philanthropist,” Rupert Hoogewerf, the chairman and chief researcher at Hurun said in a statement.

Setting aside two-thirds of ownership to trusts engaged in doing good in various areas including education and healthcare has helped Tatas achieve the top spot in giving, he said, adding that Jamsetji Tata’s giving started in 1892 itself.

The only other Indian in the list is Azim Premji of Wipro, who has virtually given his entire fortune of $22 billion for philanthropic causes.

Hoogewerf said there are a few names like Alfred Nobel which are not even in the list of top-50 givers of the last century, while some others are not a surprise.

A majority 39 people in the list are from the US, followed by the UK (5) and China (3). Total 37 of the donors are dead while only 13 of them are alive.

Three individuals added more than $50 billion in a single year, led by Elon Musk with $151 billion, on the back of the rise of e-cars, whilst e-commerce billionaires Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Colin Huang of Pinduoduo added $50 billion each.

“At this rate, expect to see fifty or more break through the $100 billion-mark within the next five years,” Hoogewerf said.

The total donations by the 50 givers are pegged at $832 billion over the last century, of which $503 billion came from foundation endowments and $329 billion from donations to date.

When the British asked the French to jail Madame Cama, the ‘mother of Indian revolution’

For decades, the British government surveilled the Parsi freedom fighter.

Article by John O’Brien

A postal stamp depicting Bhikhaiji Cama. | India Post/ Government of India/ Wikimedia Commons

The struggle for Indian independence from British rule was not only carried on in India but was eagerly pursued by Indian activists and revolutionaries across the world, particularly in Europe and America. The India Office Records contains some fascinating files on one such activist, Bhikhaiji Rustom Cama, more often known as Madame Cama.

Born in 1861 into a wealthy Parsi family in Bombay, Madame Cama was educated at the Alexandra Parsi Girls School in Bombay, and later married Rustom Cama, a lawyer and son of the prominent Parsi reformer KR Cama. With her health suffering due to her work as a social worker during the 1897 plague epidemic in Bombay, Madame Cama travelled to Britain in 1901.

She would spend the next three decades working tirelessly for Indian freedom from British rule, becoming known as the “Mother of Indian Revolution”. In 1907, Madame Cama moved to Paris, where she was at the centre of a small group of Indian nationalists. That year she also travelled to Stuttgart for the International Socialist Conference, where she spoke of the poverty of the Indian people due to British rule, and unfurled the national flag of India “amid loud cheers” as reported in the Manchester Courier.

The India Office was greatly concerned at the influence of Indian activists abroad, and through the intelligence services kept a close eye on their activities. In 1915, the India Office received a copy of a letter sent to the Foreign Office from the British Political Officer in Basra, along with a specimen of Bande Mataram, the pamphlet published by Madame Cama, found in an Indian soldier’s kit.

In his letter, he asked: “In view of the existing conditions of war and of close alliance with France, could the French Government be got to arrest Madame Cama and put her away somewhere?” A note in the file suggested such a move would do more harm than good and pointed out: “The lady is under close observation, and is not now in a position to tamper with Indian troops.”

By February 1917 more direct action had been taken, with the newspaper Call reporting that “Madame B Cama, editor of the ‘Bande Mataram’, a Hindu paper published in Paris, is one of the most important women who have been denied their liberty. She was interned in Paris at the special request of the British Government.”

Intelligence Report on Indian Communists. Photo credit: British Library India Office Records

In the 1920s and 1930s, surveillance of Indian activists continued. Madame Cama appears in several of the files of Indian Political Intelligence, the branch of British Intelligence responsible for monitoring Indian nationalists in the United Kingdom, Europe and America, and some examples are given below in the suggestions for further reading.

Intelligence Report on Indians in Europe. Photo credit: British Library India Office Records

Madame Cama’s health had never fully recovered from her social work in 1897, and her work, combined with continual government hostility, strained it further. As she wrote to the Russian political activist Maxim Gorky in 1912: “All my time and energy are devoted to my country and her struggle”. In November 1935, she returned to India and died shortly afterwards in August 1936.

This article first appeared on the British Library’s Untold Lives Blog.

The challenge, Godrej says, was to reach a younger audience and children who might have had very little association with the brand

It is not the first time the history of the Godrej family is being written. In its centenary year in 1997, film journalist and former editor of Filmfare and Screen B K Karanjia had, at the behest of the industrial family, penned a voluminous two-part history, tracing their trials and tribulations since 1897.

So, what made the family want to tell its story again 25 years later? And not through another book, but through a completely different medium?

Download the PDF

The answer comes from none other than Jamshyd N Godrej, the 73-year-old chairman and managing director of Godrej & Boyce — the first company in the group’s fold, which made the ballot boxes for the country’s first election after Independence in 1952 in Vikhroli and thereon kept evolving to keep pace with changing times. Today, it also sells premium home furniture through its brand, Godrej Interio.

The challenge, Godrej says, was to reach a younger audience and children who might have had very little association with the brand. “We were looking at how we could reach children and young adults so that we could share the Godrej story, because they have not been associated so much with the brand,” he says. And the medium they finally chose? “A comic book, where you can use narrative writing and tell a story with illustrations, was a great way to go. We thought it is a very effective way to reach a new generation,” says Godrej.

Godrej, of course, went to the best in the country to do so: Amar Chitra Katha (ACK), the publishing king of comics and graphic novels, which has inspired millions of children to get familiar with Indian history and mythology through crispy, well-illustrated comics.

For ACK, it was an area they have dabbled in earlier as well, having published comic books of other industrial luminaries like Jamsetji Tata, JRD Tata and Ghanshyam Das Birla.

In the case of the Godrej family, the comic book is all about its founders, Ardeshir and his brother Pirojsha, who were instrumental in establishing the empire.

ACK is initially starting with a small print run of 500 copies, but expects bigger numbers to come from its digital version.

The comic book traces the Godrej history through the family’s migration from Bharuch in Gujarat to the bustling city of Mumbai. And how a small news item in the Bombay Gazette about a gang of burglars breaking locks in the city led Ardeshir Godrej to enter the business of making sturdy locks. With financial help from his benefactor and family friend, Merwanji Cama — whose nephew, Boyce, after whom the company’s name was changed to Godrej & Boyce, joined Ardeshir but did not work long — and a loan of Rs 80,000, he rented out a shed in Lalbaug, hired a dozen workers from Gujarat and Malabar, bought a small steam engine and started producing locks in 1897.

Learning from his earlier mistakes in business, he put in a clear marketing plan. The rest is history. From locks, the company diversified to other products, furniture included.

Soon, his younger brother Pirojsha joined him and got a patent for making springless locks. The next big step was their tryst with soap, starting in 1918 with Chavi, a bathing soap that took on imported giants like Lux, Cuticura and Windsor. After Ardeshir passed away in 1936, Pirojsha took up the reins of the Godrej business, and went on to build Vikhroli, an industrial township on the outskirts of Mumbai city.

Says Preeti Vyas, CEO, Amar Chitra Katha: “One challenge we faced was the page count — 32 pages are too little to write the stories of two business giants like Ardeshir and Pirojsha,”. The other, she says, “was to be chronologically correct even with the smallest detail, like which brand of soap was introduced first.

”The narrative, says Godrej, was supported by a wealth of archival material from the 1900s, which has been collected, sorted and made available to anyone interested in the Godrej history. These include letters, agreements, pictures, product history and advertising, and so on.

“The Tatas have the best archives and they understood its value. We did collaborate with them while setting up ours,” says Godrej, adding, “We have also helped many Indian business houses like Cipla and the Jindals, who are working on setting up their archives”.The Godrej group also organises annual, open-to-all lecture series in Mumbai on the contribution of Indian business houses to the India story. The last one was on the Sassoon family, a name Mumbaikars are familiar with because of the Sassoon Docks.

Is he looking to leverage other mediums so that more people get to know about their founders? Godrej replies with an emphatic “yes”, and says they are exploring all options: social media, perhaps an OTT series, videos, oral recordings. The Godrej story, he says, is a slice of Indian modern history and ought to reach more people.

Madam Cama first fluttered the Indian flag to the world in August 1907, paving the path for Bombay Presidency’s feistiest women patriots

Bhikaiji Cama, the early catalyst for free India. Pic Courtesy/Wikicommons

Article by Meher Marfatia | Mid-Day

All was far from quiet on the western front. The most pivotal freedom bids launching from the Bombay Presidency—Non-Cooperation, Home Rule, Khilafat, Khadi and Swadeshi movements—were propelled to a significant extent by women with rare courage of conviction. Not all of them are as equally chronicled for contributions that culminated in shaking off the British yoke 75 years ago.

The little-known story of Vijya Parikh is worth the telling. On marrying cotton trader Durlabhji Parikh, from Limbdi (the princely Gujarat state entitled to a nine-gun salute during the Raj, reigned by a Thakore who wilily tried impressing the British by opposing the Congress), she discovered her ideals aligned firmly with those of her in-laws.  

Fracturing the salt law: Satyagrahis boiling sea water to extract the taxed mineral in the Congress House compound. Pic Courtesy/Getty Images

A veritable repository of family history, octogenarian Ramesh Parikh says, “My father Durlabhji was the janata’s representative assigned to agitate outside the Limbdi palace. His brother Rasiklal Parikh became the chief minister of Saurashtra State and first home minister of separately carved Gujarat State. In Bombay, my mother Vijyaben met Dadabhai Naoroji’s granddaughters, Perin and Goshasp (Goshi) Captain, who further fuelled the revolutionary attitude already seeded deep in her.”

Kept out of activities initially—Indian leaders fearing the English might criticise them for holding women as shields for their fight—Indian women grew emboldened of their own accord, realising they could play a considerable role reshaping the country’s fate. It is acknowledged that the ladies’ freedom movement was largely the doing of women of substance such as Vijyaben Parikh and Maniba Nanavati. A good deal of plotting and planning hatched in their homes with the Mahatma’s blessings.

Vijyaben and Durlabhji Parikh. Pic Courtesy/Parikh Family

Throughout April 1930, at least 300 women enrolled for picketing, would routinely start from Congress House and proceed along Girgaum Road, Princess Street, Mangaldas Cloth Market, Mulji Jetha Cloth Market, Zaveri Bazar and Bhuleshwar. Reiterating the necessity to boycott British goods, they entreated shopkeepers along the way to deal only in swadeshi items. And pleaded with millhands—“Unless you give up liquor and not touch foreign cloth, we will have to continue our picketing demonstrations.”

Aditi Parikh, the daughter-in-law of Rameshbhai’s older brother Nalinbhai, shares interesting anecdotal memories she has heard. “My father-in-law learnt to walk in jail. Vijyaben was arrested after a protest. Gandhiji requested the sentencing judge to grant leniency as she had this toddler child. When he did not, she took my father-in-law with her to Arthur Road jail. Learning to take his baby steps there, he fell on the hard stone, but proudly bore that scar lifelong—a badge of honour to his mind.”

Mithuben Petit (centre) with Gandhiji and Sarojini Naidu. Pic courtesy/Wikipedia

Rameshbhai brings forth a framed letter written in Gujarati in which Gandhiji, incarcerated in Poona, enquired after Vijyaben’s health in Bombay. He goes on to narrate his plucky mother’s involvement with a momentous incident.

It was December 12, 1930. A poor 22-year-old farmer-turned -mill labourer took to exposing the unfair trade practices of British companies. Babu Genu and his sympathisers blocked a truck loaded with a consignment of foreign materials, close to the Parikh home in Kalbadevi. Lying prostrate on the road, he refused to let the vehicle pass. The police mowed him down. It was Vijyaben who roused onlookers paralysed with shock into arranging for Babu Genu’s body to be transported with dignity from the brutal scene.  

Malatiben and Damubhai Jhaveri. Pic Courtesy/Parul Sastri

“Right after Independence, Partition refugees needed to be fed. Goshi Captain put my mother in charge of logistics for the Mulund camp. The group of ladies who were sent to jail with her were part of this operation, ensuring there were daily rice and roti rations for the displaced,” remembers Rameshbhai. 

The upswing preceding the 1930s events triggering 1947 was set into motion by the early courage of Madam Cama. Backtracking some decades, we encounter an irony the British took time to swallow. Cama’s community, small yet known for loyalty to the Crown, still succeeded in stirring strong enough ferment. Not only did Parsis front the freedom struggle, among the most radical anti-Raj voices were women such as Bhikaiji Cama, the Captains and Mithuben Petit.

That Parsi women were among the country’s first to be educated was a privilege they employed to advantage and one forming the raison d’etre for their involvement with the Independence movement. They were often from households unlikely to be associated with commitment to the cause against colonialism. 

From an affluent Patel family, Bhikaiji believed women joining politics would propel their emancipation. The year that excited her, because of the formation of the Indian National Congress, 1885, was when she married Rustomji Cama too. He proved a disappointingly pro-British lawyer and ideological differences drew them apart.

Travelling to Europe in 1902 to fully recover from ill health on account of the plague, she contacted empathetic compatriots. On August 22, 1907, Bhikaiji presented a strident sight at the second International Socialist Congress in Stuttgart. Saree pallu crowning her head held high, she strode on stage to unfurl a green-yellow-red striped flag, emblazoned with the words Bande Mataram, before the global gathering. And declared, with typically passionate oratory, “This flag is of India’s independence. I appeal to lovers of freedom over the world to co-operate with this flag in freeing one-fifth of the human race.”

She delivered lectures at London’s Hyde Park on famine devastation in India and on the imperative need for its autonomy, got invited by Lenin to settle in Russia, had her portrait splashed alongside Joan of Arc in French newspapers, and travelled to America and Africa with her flag. Across foreign soil, during the long exile from her homeland, she raised an incredibly high awareness of atrocities against Indians and the vital need to rally with their clamour against oppression.

Also eschewing great wealth to espouse non-violence and rural activism, Mithuben Petit was strongly influenced by the view that real India lives in her villages. She set up Stree Swarajya Sanghs where women were instigated to peacefully picket shops selling foreign cloth. Her aristocratic family members were aghast. Not objecting to Mithuben’s constructive social work as much as her sparking opposition to the English, they warned her to renounce such “ridiculous” activities or risk disinheritance. Mithuben’s cool retort to the clan struck fresh fervour among brave hearts of the day: “It is your business to sit with the government and mine to remain with the nation.”

At Sorbonne University in 1905, Perin Captain was introduced to Bhikaiji agitating for Indian liberation in Paris. The liaison developed into an infectious friendship, which goaded Perin with audacity. She burst into fiery nationalist songs at a conference in Brussels and thought nothing of defiantly visiting Veer Savarkar in jail under the assumed name of Miss Ardeshir.

On Pateti day of 1906, Perin had drawn her Oxford-educated sister’s attention to “that man with very nice eyes” at a boat party on the Thames hosted by Jamshedji Tata. That was Gandhiji in attendance. He enlisted the sisters’ support in South Africa for Indian self-rule. On his return, he held a meeting of immense consequence at the Petit ancestral home in Bombay, exhorting ordinary people to fight relentlessly for freedom as both, a birthright and undeniable duty.

Inspired, the Captains traded their luxurious silks for coarse khaddar sarees and spearheaded the propagation of ahimsa through women’s organisations such as the Rashtriya Stree Sabha and Desh Sevika Sangh. Perin galvanised her sisters in arms into expressing their displeasure to Gandhiji about merely being allowed the picketing of shops.

As the Dandi March ended on April 6, 1930, growing numbers of women joined the Salt Satyagraha, encouraged by Sarojini Naidu and Matangini Hazra. Mithuben Petit stood behind Gandhiji when he violated the Salt Law again at Bhimrad.

Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya bunched together volunteers for prabhat pheris (dawn processions) and to scoop salt and brine at Chowpatty and Juhu beaches. With a determined army of likeminded women, she headed to Chowpatty to collect sea water to be evaporated on small chulha stoves. The police arrived with rough boots and batons to beat them. Even those who began witnessing the violence as mere spectators were forced to leave the balconies from where they watched events unfold, to help the injured be carried away to hospital on makeshift stretchers cushioned with bedsheets they provided.

The air across the city was thick with cries of “Namak kaida toda hai, we have broken the salt law.” Lilavati Munshi marched groups of women to a wire barrier
near the Wadala salt depot within dangerous distance of armed Eurasian sergeants.

The Bombay Chronicle (whose first editor BG Horniman had been an azaadi supporter) reported several housewives carrying clay, brass and copper pots and pans joined the agitators. That salt was later sold outside the Bombay Stock Exchange and High Court. With characteristic insouciance, Chattopadhyaya waved a packet under the nose of a startled magistrate, asking if he would buy “the salt of freedom”.  This powerful, symbolic march by Gandhiji, warming the very soul of India, presented a turning point for women to claim public space in vast numbers for the first time in the country’s history.

Explaining effectively used traditional literary metaphors, Kunjlata Shah writes in Patriotic Songs in Gujarat (1920-1947): The Gandhian Inspiration—“Folk literary forms of garbas, kirtan, garbi, katha, nurtured in Gujarat, were utilised creatively and meaningfully to mobilise women politically… In the Bardoli Satyagraha, peasant women participated in the passive resistance against British rule. Special songs, garbas,  and raasdas were composed to keep their spirits and morale up.”

Recounting those cataclysmic years, pacifist writer Horace Alexander noted: “Day by day, the streets of Bombay would be livened in the early morning with the songs of freedom. Women could be found all over the city. Many had never taken part in public life before.”

Fast forward to educationist-activist Aruna Asaf Ali saluting the Tricolour at Gowalia Tank maidan, with shouts of “Quit India” renting the August 1942 air. She had participated in protests during the Salt Satyagraha. Arrested, she was not released in 1931 under the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, which stipulated letting go all political prisoners. In solidarity, the other women refused to leave the premises unless she was released. Post-1947, she remained active in politics, becoming Delhi’s first woman mayor.

In her Babulnath apartment, adorned with images of Gandhiji and Ganesha, Malatiben Jhaveri would greet visitors at the dining table where she spent hours translating classic epics from Hindi to Gujarati. Growing up in the Nepean Sea Road mansion of her silk merchant father, Sir Shantidas Askuran, Malatiben dropped Sanskrit studies at St Xavier’s College to devotedly join the Independence struggle. On August 8, 1942, she wore the red khadi saree given to volunteers attending the explosive Congress session at the Gowalia Tank green soon to be christened August Kranti Maidan.

As Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the Congress flag, Malatiben earned a precious personal victory. Teargas was released for the first time in India. When a piece of shell landed on her, she lobbed it right back at a British soldier. Burnt but triumphant, she was whisked off to jail, where she won even police sympathy for unstoppably singing nationalistic lyrics.

The same steadfast rootedness made Malatiben work tirelessly to promote indigenous textiles. Her sister Prabha Shah and she set up the Sohan Sahkari Sangh, a pioneering effort in the non-government sector for handlooms and handicrafts.  

Malatiben’s abiding passion was theatre, which she flung herself into with uncommon energy. The constitution of the Indian National Theatre (INT) was cradled in confinement, inked by patriots such as her husband Damu Jhaveri, Chandrakant Dalal, Rohit Dave, and Mansukh Joshi. Confident that the country was on the verge of liberation, they were keen to script a unique cultural policy. On May 5, 1944 (Iqbal Day, commemorating the poet who memorably composed Saare jahaan se achha), INT was launched to nurture the regional performing arts.

Over a hot thali lunch, Malatiben had reminisced, “We were born at the right time in this country, just wanting to defy excesses of the Raj. Women like me then referred to prison as ‘saasre’—our in-law, second home.” Jailed three times in 1942 alone, she well knew the power of this truth.

Author-publisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay. You can reach her at Qmid-day.com/www.meher marfatia.com

What is less well known is the lane’s association with the development of psychoanalysis in the subcontinent.

Article by Neha Banka | Indian Express

Parsi Bagan Lane in Kolkata. (Express Photo by Shashi Ghosh)

Not very far from the Sealdah railway station in Kolkata and just a short walk from the 108-year-old Raja Bazar Science College is a narrow lane at the city’s centre. The entire length of Parsi Bagan Lane can be covered in five minutes on foot, but it is one that is steeped in history.

While it is not clear where the “Bagan” came from, the lane’s connection to the city’s Parsi community is evident. But what is less well known is its association with the research and development of psychoanalysis as a subject in the Indian subcontinent.

At 14, Parsi Bagan Lane stands the 100-year-old Indian Psychoanalytical Society, inside a building constructed in the tropical colonial style. (Express Photo)

At 14, Parsi Bagan Lane stands the 100-year-old Indian Psychoanalytical Society, inside a building constructed in the tropical colonial style. The institute was founded by Dr Girindrasekhar Bose in January 1922, a year after Dr Bose was awarded the D Sc degree of Calcutta University for his thesis “The Concept of Repression”, a copy of which Bose had sent to Sigmund Freud.

In his book Freud’s India, author Alf Hiltebeitel examines the work and relationship of Bose and Freud, touching up on Bose’s research and his establishment of the society in Parsi Bagan Lane. Bose, writes Hiltebeitel, was the first physician in the subcontinent to start using psychoanalysis to mental-health patients.

In 1940, Bose founded the Lumbini Park Mental Hospital in the city, and a clinic at 14, Parsi Bagan Lane to treat outdoor patients. This clinic later went on to become the Indian Psychoanalytical Society’s address, but continues to operate in one section of the building.

The neighbourhood of Parsi Bagan played an important role in the freedom movement. (Express Photo)

For now, most buildings in the narrow lane appear to have escaped the destruction of the city’s unique architectural heritage. This lane is also one of the handful of locations in Kolkata where one can still see and sit on the red-oxide rowak, an elevated platform seen outside old houses. A classic architectural feature that created the concept of adda, these are visible only in small residential neighbourhoods now.

A few metres from the foot of this lane is a unique address important to the pre-Independence history of Calcutta. Just next door to the Brahmo Balika Shikshalaya (Brahmo Girls School) at 295/A, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road is the Sadhana Sarkar Uddyan, also known as the Parsi Bagan Square.

Parsi bagan Post office. (Express Photo)

This park was also formerly known as Greer Park, after Richard Greer, who was Calcutta corporation chairman in 1901. However, it is not clear when the park’s name was changed to Parsi Bagan Square.

At this address, the Calcutta flag, the first unofficial flag of the subcontinent, was hoisted on 7 August, 1906, in protest against the partition of Bengal. The Calcutta flag, jointly designed by nationalists Sachindra Prasad Bose and Hemchandra Das Kanungo, who was also a member of the revolutionary group Anushilan Samiti.

The Calcutta flag. (Photo: wikipedia.org)

The flag had three horizontal bands in orange, yellow and green, with eight half-opened lotuses on the orange stripe on top representing British India’s eight provinces. The green strip at the bottom had the symbols of sun and an Islamic-style crescent moon in white. This became the precursor to the Indian national flag.

While it is not clear where the “Bagan” came from, the lane’s connection to the city’s Parsi community is evident. (Express Photo)

The neighbourhood of Parsi Bagan played an important role in the freedom movement. A stone’s throw from this park, where the flag was first hoisted, stands the The Federation Hall Society, which represented undivided Bengal. It was established to provide a space for people from the severed provinces to meet and protest the partition of Bengal.

The neighbourhood of Parsi Bagan played an important role in the freedom movement. (Express Photo)

The location of the Federation Hall Society in this neighbourhood indicates that it was a frequent meeting place for nationalists and revolutionaries, which was why the Calcutta flag was first hoisted in a park here.

One of the older neighbourhoods in the area, the narrow lane is surrounded by several buildings of historical and cultural significance—Satyajit Ray’s ancestral home, for instance. Kolkata’s history is embedded in almost every one of its streets and bylanes. Although the most imposing and recognisable roads and squares often get more attention, it is these smaller bylanes, easy to miss if one is not paying attention, that tell some of the city’s most remarkable stories.

The Centre is likely to scrap the Ministry of Minority Affairs — established by the UPA government in 2006 — and merge it with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, sources in the government told DH.

All schemes being implemented by the ministry will continue after the merger, they said.

Article By Ajith Athrady | Deccan Herald

Ministry officials refused to comment.

“The BJP-led NDA government is of the view that there is no need for an independent ministry for minority affairs. It believes the ministry was created as part of UPA’s appeasement policy. Now, the Modi government wants to bring it back under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as the ‘Department of Minority Affairs’,” one source said.

Congress Rajya Sabha member Syed Naseer Hussain described the proposed move as another attempt by the BJP to polarise society.

“The purpose of setting up a separate ministry was to bring minorities to the mainstream with focused programmes for their uplift. However, the BJP government is using every opportunity against minorities for political gains,” he said.

The Ministry of Minority Affairs was carved out of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment by the then UPA government “to ensure a more focused approach towards issues relating to Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Parsis and Jains”.

Syed Tanveer Ahmed, secretary, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, said, “Abolishing the ministry is against the spirit of the Constitution. It will harm the human development index of the country. Instead, the government should focus on sanctioning more money and strengthening the ministry for the welfare of minorities.”

Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani is presently holding additional charge of the Ministry of Minority Affairs after Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi resigned in July on expiry of his Rajya Sabha term. He was only the Muslim face in the Modi government.

On this episode of #PaisaVaisa, Anupam meets the real estate giant Boman Irani- President-Elect, CREDAI and Chairman & MD at Rustamjee.

Boman shares his thoughts on the real estate market, its development over the years, and the importance of being an aware customer. He further discusses buy vs rent, factors investing property decisions, and how to approach buying property in 2022! This and much more on this episode of Paisa Vaisa.

Listen to podcast on IVM Podcasts

A significant part of the lane and the larger neighbourhood’s documented history starts during the 19th century when the Parsi and Jewish communities began settling here.

Written by Neha Banka | Indian Express

A significant part of the lane and the larger neighbourhood’s documented history starts during the 19th century when the Parsi and Jewish communities began settling here in large numbers, establishing homes, businesses and places of worship. (Express Photo by Shashi Ghosh)

It is not clear when the lane was so named, but Parsee Church Street gets its name from the large Parsi fire temple or agiary that stands at 26, Ezra Street. (Express Photo by Shashi Ghosh)

It is easy to miss Parsee Church Street, the narrow bylane just off Ezra Street in central Kolkata. Hawkers and shops jostle to cover every inch of the pavement in these parts of the city seven days a week, late into the evenings. Such a short lane it is, that the lane can be covered on foot in less than five minutes.

The stories of Ezra Street and Parsee Church Street are inextricably tied and in many ways, it is difficult to discern where the story of one ends and the other begins. A significant part of the lane and the larger neighbourhood’s documented history starts during the 19th century when the Parsi and Jewish communities began settling here in large numbers, establishing homes, businesses and places of worship.

The stories of Ezra Street and Parsee Church Street are inextricably tied and in many ways, it is difficult to discern where the story of one ends and the other begins. (Express Photo by Shashi Ghosh)

It is not clear when the lane was so named, but Parsee Church Street gets its name from the large Parsi fire temple or agiary that stands at  26, Ezra Street. In September 1839, Rustomjee Cowasjee Banajee, a shipping magnate, set up this temple, in the presence of several established residents of Calcutta, with Dwarakanath Tagore present to support his friend. The streets and lanes around the agiary started developing into residential areas for the Parsi community in the street.

According to Encyclopedia Iranica, an online portal dedicated to the study of Iranian culture, Parsee Church Street gets its name because of its proximity to this fire temple.

The Parsi agiary, declared a Grade I heritage building in 2001, a stunning example of Gothic architecture with ornate pilaster and marble, now lies decrepit, defunct and aggressively eyed by property developers, particularly since 2018, following the death of the last known trustee, Cursetjee Manackjee Rustomjee.

Nearby, in an old building, a sign hangs for a Parsi Charitable Clinic but its doors were closed when indianexpress.com visited and it is unclear whether the clinic operates today.

The Parsi fire temple, declared a Grade I heritage building in 2001, a stunning example of Gothic architecture with ornate pilaster and marble, now lies decrepit, defunct and aggressively eyed by property developers, particularly since 2018, following the death of the last known trustee, Cursetjee Manackjee Rustomjee. (Express Photo by Shashi Ghosh)

In his book  ‘A History of Calcutta’s Streets’, historian P. Thankappan Nair mentions that Parsee Church Street was once called ‘Domtollee ka rustah’ in colonial maps of the city, but it is unclear when the name changed. It is likely that the colonial administration decided to rename the street sometime post 1839 after Banajee’s fire temple was erected in Ezra Street and the Parsi community began settling in the vicinity of the temple.

Nair writes that ‘Domtollee ka rustah’ gets its name from the Dom community, considered untouchables in the caste system. Before the three villages of Sutanuti, Kalikata and Gobindapur were combined to form the city of Calcutta by Job Charnock in 1690, Doomtullah lay on the outermost fringes of Sutanuti.

With the exception of the fire temple and its adjoining buildings, today, there are few visible remnants of the street’s history associated with the Parsi community. (Express Photo by Shashi Ghosh)

The Doms, because of their positioning in the caste system, were forced to live in the outskirts of Sutanuti. When the village created Calcutta, they remained in the areas that had formerly made the fringes of the villages.

But as the city of Calcutta grew and transformed over the years, with the British and foreigners arriving in the city and other communities settling in the city, changing the demographics of various parts of the city, the Doms slowly found themselves displaced from neighbourhoods where they had historically resided.

It is likely that the colonial administration decided to rename the street sometime post 1839 after Banajee’s fire temple was erected on Ezra Street and the Parsi community began settling in the vicinity of the temple. Express Photo Shashi Ghosh

By the 19th century, this neighbourhood became an important part of the Jewish community, largely because of the philanthropy of the Ezra family, and the Parsi community because of wealthy businessmen like Rustomjee Cowasjee Banajee.

With the exception of the fire temple and its adjoining buildings, today, there are few visible remnants of the street’s history associated with the Parsi community.

Over the weekend, Minister of Minority Affairs, Government of India, Mrs. Smriti Irani met with leaders of the community, Vada Dasturjis and other mobeds and heads of various Parsi Irani Anjumans of India. This meeting was convened  in Mumbai and there was an extensive discussions with her and her ministerial colleagues present, on wide range of issues pertaining to the Zoroastrian community.

Some of the major announcements she made at the meetings are:

• Udvada Railway Station will have a escalator so that elderly Zoroastrians visiting the holy village don’t have to face trouble.
• Udvada Railway Station will be developed as a World Class Railway Station by the Government of India. Initiat allocation of Rs. 20 crore done.
• Immediate initial support of Rs. 1 crore for preservation of Avesta language
• Reinstatement Avesta-Pahlavi studies at M A level through Institute of Distance & Open Learning
• Proposed to work with the community to get the status of Centre of Excellence for the institute running Avesta-Pahlavi studies course and offered to take up the matter with UGC if community desires so.
• Proposals with regards to training of Mobeds will be supported by Government of India.
• Medical support will be extended to entire families of all the Mobeds.
• Any Zoroastrian engaged in farming activity will be extend raw material (seeds, fertiliser, etc.) and scientific support to enhance crop productivity through Krishi Vigyan Kendra. 
• XYZ Foundation will be supported for various activities (conversations, seminars, conferences, etc) that help in promoting and preserving Zoroastrian culture.
• Traditional Skillsets akin to Zoroastrian culture identified by our community will be supported by the Government of India.
• A version of Khelo India was proposed to help engage the community in various sporting activities
• Proposal to create a federation of different women related Parsi organisations was put forth so that Zoroastrian community can take optimum benefits of various schemes and programs run by the Government of India for the welfare and safety of women.

Minister Mrs. Smriti Irani with Vada Dasturji Khurshed Dastoor, Hoshaang Gotla and the young kids of the XYZ Program.

Hoshaang Gotla speaking at the event.

Image Courtesy XYZ on Facebook.

Mango lovers all around the country wait impatiently for the mango to sweeten their tongues as summer approaches, but in Gujarat, Sanjan hamlet in Umargam taluka of Valsad district holds a special place in the state’s past. Because this tree, which is thought to be over a thousand years old, continues to “walk” every year.

Article by Bharatsinh Vadher | News 18

No wonder this walking mango tree, which is listed as one of Gujarat’s 50 Heritage Trees, draws travellers from all over the country and has developed into a living legend.

The famous mango tree has reportedly travelled about 200 metres from its original location over the past two centuries, and it is still on the “move.” The people who live there claim that this tree holds a special place in their hearts and has distinctive qualities.

Villagers say that the branches grow parallel to the ground from the main stem. They further added that the branch keeps on growing parallel to the ground from the new stem and new roots appear in the same pattern.

The tree may have been planted in this location in Sanjan village 1300 years ago by early Parsi settlers, claim the locals.

According to sources, the seaside settlement of Sanjan is thought to have been established by Zoroastrian immigrants who had applied for asylum in Gujarat in 936. According to historians, the Parsis may have called the hamlet after the city of their origin, Sanjan in Greater Khorasan.

The famous lane is named after Faramji Cowasji Contractor, the state civil contractor of erstwhile Baroda State. He owned a brick factory and built many of the city’s architectural delights, including the iconic dome at Maharaja Sayajirao University’s Faculty of Arts.

Written by Aditi Raja

The famous lane is named after Faramji Cowasji Contractor, the state civil contractor of the erstwhile Baroda State. (Express photo by Bhupendra Rana)

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In recent times, the 30-metre-wide Faramji Road in Gujarat’s Vadodara has become an example of a ‘road widening’ gone wrong as the fund-strapped Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) continues to spar with the land owners who are awaiting compensation for the acquisition made in 2017.

Even as the civic body considered withdrawing from the widening project and “returning” the parcels of land, the characteristic original 9-metre Faramji Road – the point of exit from the western end of the Vadodara Railway Junction– cannot be restored.

The famous lane is named after Faramji Cowasji Contractor, the state civil contractor of the erstwhile Baroda State, who owned a brick factory and built many of the city’s architectural delights, including the iconic dome at Maharaja Sayajirao University’s Faculty of Arts – currently the third largest masonry dome in Asia.

Nikitin Contractor says that apart from the seven bungalows, Faramji owned several other properties in the area, including the land where the present bus depot of Vadodara city stands behind the newly constructed Jan Mahal. (Express photo by Bhupendra Rana)

It is also, perhaps, the first lane in the city to be named after a Parsi and certainly the first lane to house Parsi bungalows in Vadodara as Faramji built seven unique and imposing mansions, starting around the curve of RC Dutt Road and ending into Faramji Road, for the members of his family.

Currently, the lane joins RC Dutt Road to the Indulal Patel Road that further leads to two other lanes in the vicinity named after Parsis – Rustom Patel Marg and Doctor Rustom Cama Marg. But back in the era of the state, Faramji Road was “private”. In the present day, only four of the seven bungalows continue to stand as testimony to time.

Nikitin Contractor, Faramji Contractor’s great grandson, who currently occupies one of the four bungalows where he also runs Charamant Heritage Cafe, says, “My bungalow is at least 105 years old that overlooks the Alkapuri-exit of the railway station… Back in the era when it was constructed, the railway station was farther away, having only three platforms and two trains connecting the then-Baroda and Bombay.” He recalls that a railway colony stood across the road, which was razed over the years to expand the station.

“Today, the station has expanded to six platforms and a massive exit and is bustling with activity now. During the British Period, Faramji Road was a closed lane and was separated from the main road… After independence, the local body wanted a part of the land to open to the public and my family donated the land,” he says.

This is the first lane to house Parsi bungalows in Vadodara as Faramji built seven unique and imposing mansions. (Express photo by Bhupendra Rana)

Nikitin Contractor is among the land owners in litigation with the VMC for the 2017 land acquisition when the nine-metre road was widened to 30 metres instead of the proposed 19-metre road and an additional three metres of footpath to make it 21 metres. In the process, Contractor lost a fountain and the ‘sepoy kholi’ that were part of the compound of his splendid white heritage bungalow, built in a mix of Victorian and Persian architecture.

Three other bungalows belong to the Contractor family in the vicinity – a red-brick bungalow with two mini-domes that resemble the MS University on the RC Dutt Road, currently occupied by Nikitin’s aunt Jeru Contractor; an adjoining cream bungalow also occupied by Jeru Contractor’s brother; and a joint family property on the corner of the Faramji lane. Additionally, the fourth bungalow that belonged to Nikitin’s uncle, Fali Contractor, was sold in recent years and is now in the possession of its new owner, a real-estate developer.

Nikitin Contractor says that his great-grandfather was a civil contractor in the times of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III. When Sayajirao returned from Europe, he commissioned the Baroda College and Faramji Contractor was the civil contractor who supplied bricks from his factory as well as the labour.

Faramji Road along with the streets named after Rustom Patel and Doctor Rustom Cama are the Parsi-dominated areas of Vadodara. (Express photo by Bhupendra Rana)

“The masonry dome of the Arts faculty, designed by Robert Chisholm, was also built by Faramji Contractor. He purchased a few properties within a decade along the Race Course to build seven bungalows. Two of the bungalows were given as gifts to his daughters in marriage. They have been razed and eventually, hotels and offices have come up there,” Nikitin Contractor says.

Nikitin recalls that Faramji’s only child was Pestonji Contractor who is credited with completing the Parsi Agiyari in Sayajigunj that Faramji had commissioned for the community in Vadodara and continues to have the fire lit for close to a century. Pestonji passed on the seven bungalows to two of his three sons – Pirojshah and Manekshah.

While Nikitin is Pirojshah’s grandson, his aunt Jeru Contractor is Manekshah’s daughter who occupies the red-brick two-storey bungalow with the domes – the only one of the seven bungalows that reflect the Indo-Saracenic style of the Gaekwadi era.

According to historians in the city, the bungalow was initially occupied by members of the Gaekwad royal family and then returned to the family.

Nikitin Contractor says that apart from the seven bungalows, Faramji owned several other properties in the area, including the land where the present bus depot of Vadodara city stands behind the newly constructed Jan Mahal.

Nikitin Contractor is among the land owners in litigation with the VMC for the 2017 land acquisition when the nine-metre road was widened to 30 metres instead of the proposed 19-metre road and an additional three metres of footpath to make it 21 metres. (Express photo by Bhupendra Rana)

He adds, “Faramji Contractor owned several properties in this area… We do not have an exact figure of the parcels of land he owned as they were also sold over the years. But, one can estimate his affluence from the fact that in 1917, when the British were running short of finance due to war and had issued War Bonds, Faramji contributed Rs 2 lakh to the British funds. The Maharaja (Sayajirao III) was also among those who contributed to the War Bond.”

Faramji Road along with the streets named after Rustom Patel and Doctor Rustom Cama are the Parsi-dominated areas of Vadodara. Interestingly, Vadodara’s only licensed wine shop FP Patel and Sons is also located at the end of Faramji Road which leads to the landmark Indubhai Patel Marg and Arunoday Society.

The families have also continued to preserve the vintage furniture and the antiques that are unmissable features of Parsi homes. “The Victorian influences are visible in the structure of my bungalow… We have also preserved a lot of the antique furniture that is typical of Parsi homes. Much of it is also part of the heritage coffee shop,” Niktin explains.

Meanwhile, in order to find an “amicable solution” to end the long-drawn legal battle with landowners, the VMC standing committee has approved a proposal of the Land Estate (Acquisition) department to offer Transferable Development Rights (TDR) to one petitioner in the case of the Faramji — in a first such move. The owner is yet to accept the proposal to allow the VMC to offer the same solution to other owners, including Contractor.

Two iconic legacies come together for the first time to create a luxury haven in Mumbai

Taj The Trees, a luxury hotel in Mumbai, is a melange of two iconic legacies coming together for the first time, the Tata Group and The Godrej Group

IHCL (Indian Hotels Company Limited) announced the opening of Taj The Trees, the eco-sensitive hotel, nestled in greenery, and overlooking the mangroves and the eastern shoreline of Mumbai.

Puneet Chhatwal, Managing Director & CEO, IHCL, said, “We are excited to bring the fifth Taj hotel to Mumbai, our newest addition in Taj’s home city. Taj The Trees in the evolving micro-market of Vikhroli is strategically located in proximity to significant commercial hubs and the upcoming Navi Mumbai international airport. This uniquely designed hotel celebrates the essence of Tajness with the spirit of Godrej Properties’ built legacy of sustainable developments across India. We are delighted to partner with the prestigious Godrej Group for this hotel.”

The 151-keys hotel is situated in a mixed-use development spread across 34 acres in the midst of a buzzing urban metropolis – a natural oasis with unrivalled views of the verdant mangrove reserve. Shamiana the signature all day diner offers global cuisine and local favourites. The speciality restaurant, Nonya with subtle Shanghai Deco influences, serves authentic pan Asian cuisine. Guests can enjoy dishes inspired by mangroves of the world at the rooftop The Mangrove Bar with its own gin distillery. The luxurious banquet spaces opening into a private courtyard garden include a 7,000 sq. feet ballroom. Recreational facilities include a state-of-the-art gym, an infinity pool overlooking the magnificent Sculpture Park, the beauty salon Niu&Nau and the spa, J Wellness Circle inspired by traditional Indian healing wisdom.

Taj The Trees, an archetype of modern sustainable design ethos, is a 100% green power hotel. With natural sunlight used for lighting 56% of occupiable spaces, green certified room amenities and glass water bottles, the zero single use plastic hotel is IGBC Platinum certified.

With the addition of this hotel, IHCL will have 12 hotels in Mumbai with two under development.

News 18 Gujarat has a video segment on the topic

Parsi’s foresight, wells became rainwater harvesting tanks

The segment is in Gujarati, but explains the historic nature of the wells in Parsi Mohollas

100 years ago the entire Navsari district had a population of about 5,000 Parsis, every third person in the total population was a Parsi. However, with the passage of time, the number of people belonging to the Parsi community is decreasing. The work done by the Parsi community in Navsari is amazing. Parsis have contributed a lot in making Navsari the center of education of South Gujarat.

In 1998 Rediff spoke to Nani Palkhiwala, India’s greatest constitutional expert and one of the great legal minds in history. 27 years later as India is in the midst of yet another general elections, let’s look back at what this legal giant had to say all those years ago.

The Rediff Special/ Nani Palkhivala

Does the 48-year-old Constitution require modification? Should India abandon the Westminster model and opt for a Presidential system?

Rediff On The NeT continues the debate on whether the Constitution needs change and if the Indian people are ready for it by speaking to Nani Palkhivala, India’s leading Constitutional expert. Interview conducted by Archana Masih.

‘We are third rate, unfit to be a democracy’

If you publish this as it is it would be a great service to India. But how many Indians will read this? What’s the point if people in America are reading it, it is Indians who need to read it more,” Nani Palkhivala asked in despair. India’s best known constitutional lawyer — a frail figure sitting across the table — is a man completely disillusioned by an Indian system that has failed — and leaders who have not delivered.

On the review of the Constitution — a topic that has emerged and subsided, depending on the fancies of the government in power — Palkhivala has written extensively. The typed sheets of paper on his desk carried the gist of his thoughts. Yet, the 78-year-old jurist somehow knows his suggestions don’t stand a chance with the government. “I have suggested the type of things that I would like but they are not the changes they would like to make.”

Palkhivala feels it will take a minimum of three years for the recommendations to come into place. By when, the present government may be out of power. Another quick glance at the papers in front of him, and his thoughts give way to more frustration. “These are third rate men. They are not people with vision. The members of the Constituent Assembly were first class men. People like Ambedkar framed the Constitution. Compared to the people in power today, I don’t I think I am in the same country.”

After having lived in pre- and post Independent India; authored several books; and served as Indian ambassador to the United States, Palkhivala has a deep insight into India and its polity. The understanding of which is the cause of greater pain — of a democracy that failed to improve the lot of its people. “We are not made for democracy. We are made to be ruled by a strong man. Like Kemal Ataturk. I have said repeatedly that India needs a strong man, not adult franchise. I haven’t seen anyone yet. I hope it does happen in my lifetime.”

Palkhivala reiterates that an India that votes on the basis of caste and community was not the India the framers of the Constitution envisioned. An India where more than half of the populace is uneducated does not deserve adult franchise. “I am totally disillusioned. I don’t believe in adult franchise at all. We have no reverance for our Constitution. We have no distinction between ordinary and Constitutional law. We are third rate, unfit to be a democracy. People blame the Constitution today to shift the blame from their shoulders. Because the people who framed the Constitution are dead and gone. You think this is a country to live in?”

At this point, he marvels that the young people of today are brave enough to start a career in India. He flips through those papers again, pauses and answers a query on Article 370. “You cannot remove 370, because that was a condition Kashmir became a part of India. If Article 370 is removed, I don’t see why Kashmir should continue to be a part of India.”

“This is a gist of what I have been saying for years and years…”

We have no reverence for our Constitution. Our Constitution has been amended no less than 78 times in 50 years, unlike the United States constitution which is regarded by the Americans with such reverence that it has been amended only 27 times in 209 years. It is my firm conviction that it is not the Constitution which has failed the people but it is our chosen representatives who have failed the Constitution. Dr Ambedkar poignantly remarked in the Constituent Assembly that if the Constitution given by the people unto themselves in November 1949 did not work satisfactorily at any future time, we would have to say that it was not the Constitution which had failed, but that man was vile.

Every right minded person would agree that the integrity and unity of the country, and the secular character of our country, which have been our greatest accomplishments since 1947, should never be disturbed.

There is a cavernous gap between India’s tremendous potential and the depressing reality. Our economic accomplishments have been woefully inadequate to eradicate poverty and enable the underprivileged of this country to rise above their ageless squalor.

However, it is time that, having regard to the lack of character and calibre in the overwhelming majority of our politicians, we should think of making some changes in our constitutional law.

The expression ‘constitutional law’ comprises not only the Constitution, but also other parliamentary laws which supplement the Constitution and are concerned with subjects that are constitutional in nature.

There are three ways of amending the constitutional law.

The first is to change those parliamentary laws which qualify to be treated as constitutional law –without amending the Constitution itself.

The second is to amend the Constitution, without altering its basic structure, in accordance with Article 368 of the Constitution.

The third way is to amend the Constitution so drastically that its basic structure is altered; and this can be done, having regard to the Supreme Court’s judgment in Kesavananda Bharati’s case (AIR 1973 SC 1461), only by setting up a new Constituent Assembly or by a referendum.

The third way of amending the Constitution may be ruled out as being clearly inadvisable at the present juncture. When the dangerous divisive forces are so pronounced, this is hardly a time to call a Constituent Assembly or to call for a referendum for changing the basic structure of the Constitution. Convening a Constituent Assembly would be a step fraught with the greatest danger to the unity and integrity of India. Even a small country like Belgium took twelve years (1967 to 1978) to revise the fundamental laws of that state. Our problems are far more complex and more numerous than those of Belgium. We are, therefore, left with the first two alternatives.

There are four desirable changes in our fundamental laws which can be implemented without amending the Constitution.

First, no political party should be recognised by the Election Commissioner or by any other authority unless the party maintains audited accounts of all its receipts and expenditure. I have been writing and speaking publicly on this particular change over the years. Such a law is in force today, but the law on this point remains only on paper like several other Indian laws.

Secondly, it seems essential to introduce partial proportional representation in the Lok Sabha. Half of the Lok Sabha candidates should be elected on the basis of proportional representation, which is the system in force in several countries including Germany. In order to prevent the mushrooming of political parties and splinter groups, it should be provided that the benefit of proportional representation would be available only to those political parties which secure a certain percentage, say, 5 per cent of the votes cast in a region. The advantage of proportional representation is that it would enable the voice of minorities, regional parties, and order significant segments of the public, to be heard in Parliament, and thus allay the feelings of frustration and discontent among them.

Proportional representation in the Lok Sabha is permissible under Article 81 of the Constitution which only requires “direct election.” Therefore, the desired change can be accomplished by amending the Representation of the People Act.

Thirdly, some minimum qualifications should be prescribed for those who seek election to Parliament. This, again, can be done without amending the Constitution. Article 84 already provides that the qualifications for a person who seeks to stand for election to the Lok Sabha are — he must be a citizen of India; he must be 25 years old; and he must possess such qualification as Parliament may, by law, prescribe. The first qualification is usually an accident of birth; and the second is inevitably the result of the inexorable passage of time. Up to now Parliament has prescribed only disqualifications. I would advocate some positive qualification for aspirants to a parliamentary career.

Fourthly, a salutary change can be made in our constitutional law, without amending the Constitution itself, to reduce to a minimum the detestable exhibitions of the toppling game which has been a craze among our frolicsome politicians over the years. Legislative rules or other laws can be so amended as to provide that a vote of no-confidence against the government would be inoperative unless the legislature passing the vote of no-confidence chooses at the same time the leader who is to take the place of the prime minister or the chief minister. Such a system prevails in Germany where a vote of no confidence in the chancellor has to take the form of a resolution choosing another person as the chancellor.

‘It is not the Constitution which has failed the people, but our chosen representatives who have failed the Constitution’

Let us now deal with those changes which would require an amendment of the Constitution, but would not affect its basic structure.

First, Article 75 requires that a minister at the Centre should be, or become within six months, a member of Parliament. An amendment should provide that while the existing provision would apply to the majority of ministers, a minority of ministers may be selected by the prime minister from outside Parliament at any time. Even the ministers who are not members of Parliament would have the right to address, and would be responsible to Parliament. Thus the principle of collective responsibility of the Cabinet to the legislature would not be impaired.

In Japan, for example, which has a democratic constitution on the Westminster model as we have, the majority of the ministers are selected from the Diet, but it is open to the prime minister to select a minority of the ministers from outside. The advantage of such a system is that it enables the prime minister to have in his Cabinet some of the best talent available in the country.

There is a second reform which can be adopted in the alternative, or in addition, to the one referred to above. When an MP is nominated to the Cabinet, he should be required to resign his seat in Parliament. There are several advantages in having such a law. The minister would then be able to concentrate on the task of governing the country, and his energies would not be dissipated in politicking and in discharging his time-consuming duties as an MP.

In France a person has to resign from the legislature upon his appointment to the cabinet, and this system has worked extremely well in that country. It is true that in France the presidential system prevails. But this particular feature is equally compatible with the Westminster model, because it does not derogate from the principle of the responsibility of the Council of Ministers to Parliament.

The third suggestion would be to alter Article 75 to provide that every one of the 26 states of India should be entitled to send two representatives to the Lok Sabha who would not be elected on the basis of adult franchise, but would be elected by universities and professional bodies. A similar provision should be made to have one representative so elected from each major Union Territory. This way we would have about 52 MPs who would represent the professions and the faculties and would be able to improve the tone and standard of debate in Parliament. Conceivably, they may hold the balance of power among the warring political parties which are chronically engaged in contending for the plums of office.

There are four advantages in having the presidential system patterned on the liberal, democratic model:

First, it enables the President to have a cabinet of outstanding competence and integrity, since the choice is not restricted to Parliament. A wise President can substitute excellence for the deadwood which passes for government today.

Secondly, since Cabinet ministers are not elected, they are not motivated to adopt cheap populist measures which are so costly to the country in the long run. For instance, they would not resort to nationalisation which is the last refuge of inefficient administrators.

Thirdly, the presidential system permits Cabinet ministers to be absorbed in the job of governing the country, instead of wasting their time and potential in endless politicking.

Fourthly, it would stop defections and desertions on the part of legislators, which are in most cases motivated purely by thirst of power and hunger for office. In France, prior to 1959, and in Italy in recent years, governments lasted on an average less than a year, while in Belgium there were three governments in 1980. Such is the instability to which the Westminster model of parliamentary democracy lends itself.

If the people of India were ever to decide to have a presidential system, they will have to consider the various forms of the system which are in force in other free democracies. Having regard to the experience of those countries and our own peculiar needs, we will have to evolve a presidential model of government specially tailored to suit our own requirements. The crucial point is that any presidential system which we choose must be one which is in total conformity with the philosophy of freedom and liberalism underlying our Constitution: it must be one which will preserve and promote all the fundamental rights. In sum, it must be the very antithesis of an authoritarian state.

It is difficult to say, without a study in depth and without a full and detailed examination of the arguments put forward by the proponents and the opponents of the presidential system, whether India would be well advised to scrap the present Westminster model and switch be well advised to scrap the present Westminster model and switch over to the presidential system. No final and conclusive view can be expressed either way, without an exhaustive and dispassionate examination.

The country is facing political, economic and social problems of an unparalleled magnitude, which can never be resolved merely by substituting a presidential system for the Westminster model. Any number of examples can be cited of countries where the presidential system prevails but which still continue to have poverty and the type of problems which plague India today.

The presidential system is no substitute for national character. It does not afford any alternative to vision, knowledge and moral standards in political life. Besides, the whole nation is today in such turmoil that an intelligent and dispassionate discussion without rancour is impossible either within or outside Parliament. When your house is on fire, you do not pause to consider whether the living-room should be converted into a bedroom.

There are a number of changes in our constitutional law which need to be effected to root out corruption and to prevent further degradation of our political life. These are changes on which it would be far easier to get a national consensus than on the question of switching over to the presidential system and which deserve far greater priority than the question of the presidential system. A sense of priorities would dictate that consideration of the benefits of the presidential system can wait till the more urgently required reforms in our constitutional law are first carried out.

To my mind, the greatest danger facing India is that of disintegration. Unfortunately, there are strong tendencies among the states to go their own way and any tinkering with the Constitution would only bring about a disintegration of the country.

As regards a Uniform Civil Code, it is the ideal which India should enact. There can be equally no doubt that in trying to reach the ideal at this stage, the country runs a greater risk of being disintegrated.

First, the minorities like the Muslims would think that it is an attempt to make them subject to the rules and regulations which apply to Hindus.

Secondly, even among Hindus the same jurisprudence does not apply to the entire community because there are some who are governed by the Mitakshara school, and others who are governed by the Dayabhaga school. Clear proof of usage will outweigh the written text of the law.

Thirdly, even in one community you will not be able to have a Uniform Civil Code. How can you have such a Code for all the communities at one stroke?

It was impossible to have one or two states enact a Uniform Civil Code as was envisaged, some time earlier, to be done in Gujarat and Maharashtra. It would be very difficult to do so for the whole country.

Zarine Mistry, a resident of Sterling Road, shares insights into the Parsi community in Chennai, highlighting Anjuman Baug’s significance. Additionally, the article mentions Delkhush Delicacies, operated by Mahiyar and Zavera Shroff, known for their popular Parsi dishes like Parsi pulao.

Article by Debasmita Ghosh | TNN

CHENNAI: Now a Sterling Road resident, Zarine Mistry was born in a humble cottage at the Parsi Anjuman Baug 12 km away and grew up in the Gulmohar-lined bustling avenues of Royapuram. “My dad came to Chennai from Lahore in 1934 as a professor of anatomy at Madras Medical College. As kids, we walked to the beach and sat on the cement stands. Then the Jawahar Port was developed, and everything changed,” says Mistry, a former secretary of the Madras Parsi Association and Parsi history expert.The 70-year-old looks forward to revisiting her childhood bylanes to celebrate the 114th anniversary of Chennai’s Fire Temple, Jal Phiroj Clubwala Dar-e-Mehr, next month.

The Parsi community in Chennai is small, with only 170 to 200 members. Still, they are spread across the city, including Harrington Road, Sterling Road, Spurtank Road, Anna Nagar, T Nagar, and their main hub, Royapuram. Despite their small numbers, they have made their presence felt with their unique cultural identity, leaving an indelible mark on the cityscape.

The earliest Parsi settlers in Chennai came from Coorg, seeking refuge during Tipu Sultan’s attempts to annex the region. Around 1795, a group of Parsis arrived in Chennai holding a portrait of the Raja of Coorg, Lingaraja (who had supported them), presenting it to the governor of Fort St. George (it is in the Fort Museum now), marking the community’s beginnings in the city. They acquired land in Royapuram and established Anjuman Baug.

The 72,000sqft baug (meaning garden), lined with mango trees and peepal trees, stretches from West Mada Street to Arathoon Road. From West Mada Street, you see small buildings, the grand red heritage bungalow, and the original dharmshala. Next to it is the Banglee, where prayers for the departed are held before moving them to the cemetery. The newly-renovated, pink dharmshala with air-conditioned rooms is on the right, and in the backyard is the kitchen and home of Chennai’s only Parsi caterers, Mahiyar and Zavera Shroff.

“The cemetery has two sections: an older one and a newer one,” says Tehnaz Bahadurji, a businesswoman. “We were using the newer section, but it became full. We had to clear old graves in the older section to create a wall of remembrance. Now, we’re using the older section again.”

The two-story red heritage Dharmshala, with elements of old Madras architecture, was gifted by the Phiroj Clubwala family in 1908, making it older than the Fire Temple. Several members of the community live here.

Mistry and Tehnaz agree that while they restore some properties for Parsi families moving into the city, renovating the old Dharmshala is a massive task. “A mere whitewashing won’t suffice. Restoring it could cost crores of rupees,” says Mistry. “We have several properties around, but maintaining them is challenging.”

A few metres from Anjuman Baug is the famous Parsi Club with two banquet halls where the community gathers monthly and on festive days. “It was an old colonial building called Greenfields, with a patio and verandahs,” says Mistry. “Restoring it was difficult and funds were scarce, so we built a modern structure. Now we have the Phiroj Clubwala Memorial Hall and the Pavilion, the city’s first indoor badminton court. We converted it into a dining hall and rented it out for marriages to generate income.”

“When we celebrated the Fire Temple’s 100th year 14 years ago, we got donations to aircondition the hall. Many Muslims in the area rent our halls for marriages, believing they bring good luck. Women used to sit in the non-airconditioned badminton hall, so we collected money and refurbished it with donations and our funds,” says Tehnaz.

With every passing the demographic landscape of Parsis residing in Chennai has seen a gradual decline. There’s almost a near absence of youngsters, says Darius Bahadurji, president of the Madras Parsi Zarthosti Anjuman. “Almost 75% of us are above 50. Among our close group of friends, nobody’s child is here.”

But still, there is a strong sense of solidarity, says Tehnaz. “Being a small community, we look after our own.”

Cooking up a dhansak storm

Fancy some akuri or lip-smacking ravo sev? A catering house in North Chennai has been quietly rustling up these traditional Parsi dishes of scrambled eggs, semolina pudding, and more for a quarter of a century from its premises at Parsi Anjuman Baug.

Delkhush Delicacies, run by Mahiyar and Zavera Shroff, opened doors in 1998, serving not just Parsi food but biriyani too.
“We knew biryani was popular in Chennai. There was demand for Parsi cuisine among our community of 200 people, but we had to balance our business with something we knew would sell,” says Zavera.

It all began when Mahiyar moved to Chennai from Nagpur in 1986 for a sales job at Tata’s Empress Mills. That year, he married Chennai-born Zavera. A few months later, the mill shut down. “We started a textile business but it failed,” says Mahiyar, leading the couple to switch to catering. They started by catering birthday parties, but today, Delkhush Delicacies is a go-to for Navroz, weddings, and club parties.

Parsi pulao is our best-seller, say the couple, now in their 60s. “We follow Bhicoo Manekshaw’s recipe, India’s first Cordon Bleu-trained chef (incidentally, Indira Gandhi loved her food).” Other favourites include sali chicken, sweet and sour fish patia, and dhansak, which is mutton cooked in a mix of dals with dhansak masala and sambhar powder.

Their turnover has crossed ₹1.25 crore. “Our business grew through word of mouth,” says Mahiyar. “We just focus on the food.”

Two Centuries of Service

From a shop that opened almost two hundred years ago in Ooty, until today, the Parsi community has contributed to this district in the most remarkable way. Homi Dhunjeebhoy chronicles their remarkable history of entrepreneurship and public service

The British annexed the Nilgiris into the district of Coimbatore in 1819, when John Sullivan of the Madras Civil Service was the Collector of Coimbatore. Sullivan is, as many of us know, the acknowledged founder of the Nilgiris, and he approached businessmen in Bombay and towns along the West Coast to set up businesses in Ooty. Among the respondents were three Parsi brothers, Jehanjirjee, Framjee, and Pestonjee Nasserwanjee Bottlewalla who were from Billimora in Gujarat. They set up enterprises in Ooty in 1829. They prospered, and this prompted them to contact friends back in their village stating that Ooty was a good place to conduct commerce. This brought Eduljee Maneckjee, also from Billimora, who opened a bakery in 1840. The Bottlewallas and Maneckjee brought with them other young Parsi men to help them in their business, and so began the small Parsi population of the Nilgiris.

The 1800s

Both these families prospered greatly, spreading their business to real estate and coffee plantations and later to tea and cinchona. Maneckjee’s son, Dadabhoy took a prominent part in the civic life of Ooty and was among the first group of corporators when the Ootacamund Municipality was founded in 1866. There is a street in the main bazaar named after him where the bakery was located. Eduljee Maneckjee died in 1880, and his son in 1904, and both are buried in Ooty.

Eduljee had two other sons, Meherwanjee and Hormusjee. His eldest son, Dadabhoy had no children. Meherwanjee had three sons, Eduljee, Hormusjee and Cawasjee. Meherwanjee settled in Colombo and took the name, Nilgiria; he fared well in business, and his descendants still live in Colombo today. Incidentally, his great-grandson, Ferhad Nilgiria visited the Nilgiris early in 2024.

In 1840, Pestonjee Nasserwanjee Bottlewalla donated a piece of land, 3.21 acres, to the Parsi community for use as a cemetery. The first internment was in 1846. In 1870, Burjorjee Billimoria arrived in Ooty with his family. He started a liquor business, and set up a tavern. Along with this, he had a business of repairing and selling watches and clocks and Nilgiri produce such as Eucalyptus, Gaultheria, and Citrodora oils and honey. His grandson, Jamshed is currently a trustee of the Parsee Zoroastrian Anjuman    (association) and resides in Ooty.

In 1892, Rustom Patel set up a business in Wellington. He had a dairy which supplied milk and milk products to the army. He also set up a General Store in a building opposite the Military Hospital, which is now the Pay Office. He was one of the early trustees of the Anjuman.

In 1894, my maternal grandfather, Hormusjee Nawrojee Hazary, and his friend, Kekobad Hormusjee Rao came to Mettupalyam to work on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway. Rao was an engineer and Hazary, a contractor supplying the project with labour, ballast, and teak sleepers. The railway line up to Coonoor was completed in 1897. The two friends went to visit Ooty, and, both being greatly impressed with the salubrious climate and the breathtaking scenery, decided to settle there. My grandfather brought his wife and four children to Ooty in 1898, the fifth being my mother, was born in Ooty in 1900.

The 1900s

Hormusjee set up a business under the name of, “Hormusjee Nowrojee Hazary Lampware House.” Ooty was not electrified, so he identified a business opportunity in hiring out chandeliers and lamps for the British population, the army, the residences of the maharajahs, and the government house. Incidentally, the electrification of Ooty and Coonoor was done in 1919 and 1922.

Hormusjee’s eldest son tried his hand at a variety of businesses and did various jobs, however, he was not successful. Dinshaw, the second son was an able businessman and a good photographer, who took over the business of the famous photographer, ATW Penn. Hormusjee was the secretary of the Anjuman from 1900 to 1917, and thereafter his son, Dinshaw managed the affairs for 52 years, till his death in 1969.

Dinshaw was married to Jer, the daughter of Hormusjee Maneckjee Eduljee. She was a prominent social worker and associated with the Nilgiris Ladies Club, the Sree Shanti Vijaya Girls High schools in Ooty and Coonoor, the Friend in Need Society, Lady Willingdon Widows Home, and many other local institutions. She was awarded the Kaiser-I-Hind gold medal for the work she did.

In 1902, Mary Ardeshir Cama came to live in Ooty after the premature demise of her husband who was an ICS officer. She had two small daughters who she educated. She took up the post of Secretary of the Nilgiri Ladies Club which she held for five decades.

In 1904, Sohrabjee Meherjeebhai Billimoria came to Ooty with his parents and his sister who had five daughters and one son. He was a successful timber merchant dealing in teak and rosewood with the Rajah of Nilambur, in the rich forests of Malabar. He married Meherbhai, the widow of Hormusjee, the son of Meherwanjee Eduljee and built two beautiful bungalows, ‘Newington’, and ‘Melbourne’. He died in 1943, after a prolonged illness.

In 1905, Kamajee Kama arrived in Ooty and set up the Grace Hotel, which he unfortunately wound up in 1914. However, a well-known and popular hotel was opened in 1912 by Eduljee Piroshaw Sakhidas which he successfully ran for 58 years under the name of Hotel Cecil. He also ran a restaurant and bar at our beloved Assembly Rooms. Also in the hospitality trade, was Kekobad Hormusjee Rao who ran a popular guest house at Forest Glen in Ooty which was later sold to Naserwanjee Patel in 1941.

In 1914, Nasserwanjee Kawasjee Patel arrived in Coonoor, purchased about 100 acres of land, and planted tea. He started from scratch, establishing Adar Estate, manufacturing good quality teas. He ran the property for 40 years and sold it to Matheson Bosanquet & Co Ltd in 1954. Naserwanjee’s son, Kawas helped him to run the property. In 1944, he settled down in Coonoor and was a prominent businessman dealing in real estate, cars, and other enterprises. He was a long-time trustee and president of the Anjuman and a generous donor towards the Jal Piroj Hall. Mention must be made of Phiroj Clubwalla, a merchant prince from Madras. He built and donated the Jal Piroj Hall in memory of his son, Jal who passed away at the tender age of 14. The hall was formally handed over to the trustees of the Anjuman in 1907 to conduct religious functions.

In 1918, Khan Bahadur Manekshaw Rattanjee Dastur retired as a district and sessions judge of the central provinces. He came to settle in Ooty and lived at Kings Cliff. After a few years, he bought a small tea property known as Woodlees, in Aravenu, near Kotagiri, where he lived with his daughter, Bachubai, and sons, Ratanjee who was an engineer, and Khurshedjee who was a civil servant in the central provinces. Dasturjee, as he was fondly referred to by all, officiated at several navjotes, marriages, funerals, and house-warming ceremonies. He performed at my parents’ wedding in 1933, as well as my navjote in 1943. He was a trustee of the Anjuman for many years. This gracious gentleman endeared himself to the Badaga community and was a patriarch of sorts to them. He passed away at the age of 87, in 1945. Many Parsis who died in various parts of south India were brought for burial to Ooty. In 1906, Lt Col HM Hakim died in Tanjore and his body was brought on a gun carriage, which took four days to reach Ooty. His great-granddaughter, Avi Mehta has a house in Coonoor and looks after his grave.

In 1944, Mr Umrigar bought the Highfield Tea Estate in Coonoor. He was from the DC Umrigar family, the premier importers and distributors of wines and spirits from Europe. His estate overlooked the Wellington Gymkhana club, but he sold the property sometime in the 1970s and went back to Bombay.

My father, Dinshaw Heerjeebhoy Dhunjeebhoy, a Marine Engineer, retired to Ooty and married Gool, the youngest child of Hormusjee Nowrowjee Hazary and remained a trustee of the Anjuman for several years. I was born in 1936.

In the old days, many Parsis joined the government service apart from well-known commercial establishments. Jal Ardeshir Master reached the top of his cadre as a Chief Conservator of Forests of the erstwhile Madras Presidency, being the first Indian to hold the post. He retired to Ooty with his wife, Gool who was a well-known social worker and whose sole objective was to uplift the poor. Another such officer who lived in Ooty for 23 years till his death was Col Jamasp Cursetjee Bharucha, an officer of the Indian Medical Service, who retired as Inspector General of Prisons of the Bombay Presidency.

Maj Rustom Ardeshir Mehta arrived in the Nilgiris in 1952 and was appointed the Bursar of The Lawrence School in Lovedale, a position he held with distinction till his retirement in 1979. Generations of Lawrencians respected and loved him. After his retirement, he, and his wife Bachoo settled in Ooty. He served the community as a trustee of the Anjuman and later as a managing trustee for several years. The Mehta’s have two sons, Navzer and Firdaus. The former retired as a commercial pilot with a reputed airline, having studied at the IIT Madras and now lives in Ooty. He is currently the President of the Parsi Anjuman of the Nilgiris, a position he holds with much aplomb. Firdaus studied medicine at AFMC, Pune, and retired to Canada after a distinguished career with the WHO.

Among the senior most professional plantation managers of Indian origin was Noshir Hormusjee Sethna, who was covenanted in the management cadre of the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Ltd in 1943. At that time, almost all plantation companies were owned or managed by the British. Nosh, as he was affectionately known among the planting community, was a lovable personality who steadily rose to the top of his company as Resident Director and held the post of president of UPASI (United Planters Association of Southern India). He retired in 1975 to Coonoor, with his gracious wife Freany, to his bungalow, ‘Westcroft’. Other Parsi planters in the Nilgiris were Jal Mody, Siasp Kotawalla, Areez Kotawalla, Feroze Chinoy, Jimmy Kamdin, Edi B Sethna and myself.

Edi, especially had an illustrious career and reached the top of MB & Co Ltd and was President of the UPASI. He was also a trustee of the Anjuman for several years and after Noshir Vajifdar, he prayed at all jashans and funerals. He was president of the Ooty Club and the longest-serving vice-president of the Wellington Gymkhana Club. Edi continues to remain in service to this day. Others were Hector Kothawalla, Hanosh Sagar and a few propriety planters, AF Kaka, ZT Kothavalla, Kaiwaan R Patel in the Nilgiris, and Navroze E Sethna, who owns a well-run coffee property in Coorg. Minoo Avari, having planted in north and south India, retired to Kodaikanal. Mention must be made of my first employer, Sohrab AC Ardeshir, the nephew of Lady Dhunjeebhoy Bomanjee, the owner of three properties, Glenmorgan, Arthala, and Tuttapallam. The Planters Co (Pvt) Ltd in Coonoor is where I worked and from where the three estates were managed. Sohrab was a solicitor and went to Oxford and Lincoln’s Inn. He lived in Coonoor for about 16 years. His main achievement was the establishment of Coonoor as a tea auction centre and the establishment of Sohrab Ardeshir Brokers Corporation in 1964. For the past 30 years, Parsis have gone into real estate and building. Kaiwaan Patel and Navroze E Sethna have built some high-class bungalows in the Nilgiris.

Noshir A Meherban, after a brilliant academic career served in the legal department of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency. After retirement, he was appointed legal advisor to UPASI.

It is indeed sad that today there are hardly any Parsis in the armed forces, civil services, or for that matter in the plantations.

In Defence

It is interesting to know that between 1959 and 1962 the community had the unique distinction of holding top positions at the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) at Wellington:

• Maj General SHFJ Manekshaw – Commandant, DSSC
• Col SN Antia – Chief instructor, Army
• apt Dorab R Mehta – Chief Instructor, Navy
• Grp Capt Sarosh J Dastur – Chief instructor, Air Force

At no time has one community had this signal honour. Furthermore, two other Parsis have served as Commandants; Lt Gen AM Sethna, and Lt Gen FM Billimoria.

The most well-known Parsi of the Nilgiris was undoubtedly Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, who after his active service came to live in his bungalow, ‘Stavka’ in Coonoor with his wife Silloo, who incidentally had a Nilgiri connection having studied at Nazareth Convent, Ooty. Sam was always impeccably dressed and had a tremendous sense of humour. There are innumerable stories, but the one that must be told is of President APJ Kalam’s visit when Sam was in the Military Hospital in Wellington. The President took his hand and asked whether he could do anything for him. Sam replied that he was sad that he was unable to stand and salute the Supreme Commander of the Indian forces. During his visit, the President got to know that Sam was not in receipt of either his salary or his statutory benefits. When he returned to Delhi, he ordered that all his dues should be paid forthwith. An official of the Finance Ministry was deputed to proceed to Wellington with a cheque for the entire amount due to him. Sam thanked the official and said, “I hope the damn thing does not bounce.” He donated the entire amount to the Armed Forces Welfare Fund.

When Sam passed away, the people of Nilgiris lined the road from the hospital at Wellington to the Parsi cemetery in Ooty where he was laid to rest next to his wife, Silloo.

Col Soli R Nazir came to the Nilgiris in 1958 as the Commanding Officer of the Military Hospital at Wellington. During World War II he was awarded the prestigious Military Cross for bravery of the highest order on the Burma front. After his retirement, he joined The Lawrence School at Lovedale as the Medical Officer. He was a scrupulously honest man with a no-nonsense attitude. He and his wife Roshun lived in Coonoor until their demise. Roshun wanted him to make her a brooch of his Military Cross, which he refused; however, when Roshun died, he dropped it in her grave.

And The Rest

Dr Homi E Eduljee had his roots in Ooty. His great-grandfather came to do business in 1840. He had three sons, Dadabhoy, Meherwanjee and Hormusjee. Meherwanjee’s son Eduljee was Homi’s father. Homi was born in 1915 in Rangoon where his father was a Marine engineer. Homi went to England and studied at Imperial College in London where he graduated with honours in Chemical Engineering. He worked in England during the war years and returned to India in 1946 where he worked with many institutions and retired to Ooty in 1988 with his wife, Minnie, who incidentally was the daughter of Homi’s cousin, Jer Dinshaw Hazary. They had two children, Gev and Jeroo. Gev lives in the UK and, sadly, Jeroo passed away in the US in 2007. Gev retains his ancestral home, Martyn Abbots in Ooty. Homi Eduljee was a trustee as well as the President of the Anjuman till his death in 2008.

In the early 1920s, Hormusjee Padamjee Sethna and his wife came to settle in Coonoor, and they ran a guest house which was later run by Keki and Rati Bhagwager, their daughter and son-in-law who were all from Wardha and Nagpur. They later settled in Bangalore.

Bhumgara after a distinguished service in the PWD of Madras Presidency, retired as Chief Engineer. He built three houses in Wellington. As of today, his granddaughter, Diana Bharucha lives in one of these, with her husband, Cyrus. Diana is a well-known social worker, who does a lot for the poor and needy.

Homi Sethna is a leading light of the Parsi community in the Nilgiris. He has served the Anjuman for nearly 25 years. He has been a trustee and managing trustee and has also been solely responsible for building up the funds of the Anjuman during his tenure. He is a Freemason, was the president of the Coonoor Club, and vice-president, and an active member of the committee of the Wellington Gymkhana club. He lives in his bungalow, Westcroft with his wife Shernaz, and sons, Sarosh and Jehan.

After a long and distinguished career with the Imperial Bank of India and its successor, the State Bank of India, Noshir Hormusjee Vajifdar retired to Ooty with his wife, Freany. He reached the top position of Secretary and Treasurer, Delhi Circle. He was a true Zoroastrian and had authored several prayer books, the popular one being, ‘Let us pray’. He was a keen Rotarian, played the piano, and was an amateur photographer. He took an active part in the Anjuman affairs. He was also the President of the Anjuman and kindly left a considerable sum of money to its funds.

Farokh Aga had a long stint with the Shaw Wallace group of estates in Assam before coming down south where he worked at Craigmore, and then with Forbes, Ewart & Figgis, the tea brokers. Later he was a consultant who, among other things, was involved in putting up the Tan Tea factory in Coonoor. He retired in Coonoor and passed away in his house. Dorab Kanga and his wife came to settle in Coonoor on his retirement after a very successful career in business in Calcutta, where he was also a director on the boards of many companies. He was the President of the Wellington Gymkhana Club. Dr Hirjee Adenwalla and his wife Gulnar came to Coonoor and built their house in the 1980s. Hirji was an eminent surgeon who specialised in operating on children having a harelip and cleft palate. Hirji and his wife, soon after their marriage, went to Trichur in Kerala in 1958 where he took up a very challenging job with a Christian mission, to set up a hospital. He started from scratch and today is responsible for setting up a huge medical institution, ‘The Jubilee Mission Hospital’. Hirji lived the last days of his life in Coonoor and never retired. He passed away in 2022.

Dinshaw Hazary died in 1969 after managing the affairs of the Anjuman for half a century, a very efficient replacement was Erach K Meherjee. He worked in Aden, and in 1943, came on a holiday to Ooty, where he met Mehroo Billimoria the daughter of Darabhoy Billimoria. In 1944 he married her and took her to Aden. Later, he moved to Addis Ababa and finally retired to Ooty with his family. They had three daughters and one son. Erach got a job with the law firm of Gonsalves & Gonsalves. He readily accepted the job of Managing Trustee of the Anjuman which he carried out for many years. He passed away and was laid to rest in 1988 in the Aramgah, which he had looked after so well.

Maj Fali Vakharia, a bachelor, retired from the army and came to live in Coonoor. He lived with his uncle, AF Kaka. Sadly, in his old age, he became blind and lived alone, and eventually went back to Gujarat and passed away there.

Mention must be made of Rusi & Silloo Patel, the parents of Kaiwaan Patel, who lived in Coonoor at their house, ‘Gables’. Rusi’s father also had an attachment to Ooty. Themasp Patel had a bungalow, ‘Resthaven’, at which they spent the month of May every year. He had business interests in south India in addition to his main area of operations in Bombay. Rusi, the youngest son of Naswanjee Patel of Adar Estate, worked for a Tea plantation company in the Annamalais and Nilgiris. The district was also home to Soli Colah who was squash champion of India and ranked number one in the country in 1976.

A special world must be said about, Erach Avari. If ever there was an old world gentleman, it was he – the way he spoke, the way he dressed and the way he entertained, and most of all the way he told his stories. Equally charming and gracious was his ‘lady’, Hilla. They lived in Darjeeling and finally came down south and setted in Coonoor. Erach rests in our Aramgah and Hilla left Coonoor to live with their daughter, Erna in the US. One of her sons, Minoo, is in Kodai, and the other, Nari, a successful Hollywood actor and stage actor, lives in the US. Hilla was a whisker short of 100 when she passed away and was cremated, and her ashes were interned next to Erach in our Aramgah.

And Then…

Finally, a few lines about myself, I was born in Ooty in 1936. At the age of four, I was sent to Miss Copcut’s nursery. Interestingly Miss Copcut also taught my mother. At that time there were no schools in Ooty for Indian boys to study in English medium. I went to Nazareth Convent, where boys were admitted till the age of six. After which I was sent as a boarder to St Joseph’s College, run by Irish Brothers, where I studied till the age of seven. In 1943, I joined Breeks Memorial School in Ooty which began admitting Indian children. I completed my Senior Cambridge from Breeks and went to college and graduated in Commerce from Loyola College in Madras. I started working in 1958 in Planters Co. (P) Ltd and later in the year, I commenced my planting career with Travancore Tea Estates Co Ltd (TTE) until 1981, when I moved to work for the Mammen Mappilai Group of estates in Chikmagalur. The Group had three companies, Devon, Balanoor, and Badra. I worked for them for close to 30 years which were the happiest and most satisfying of my 51-year working life. I finally ended my career in the Group’s head offices at Bangalore, where I worked for 15 years. Since 2008, I have lived in Coonoor with my wife, Khorshed. My two daughters studied in Lawrence School at Lovedale and now, Rohina works in Toronto, and Ashrafi works in Bangalore.

And so continues the story of the Parsis of the Nilgiris. New blood has arrived with young ones like Kainaaz and Rayan Sethna. New arrivals, like Kyrus Sethna and his wife have moved recently to the hills.

I pray that the next generation continues to serve the hills as their forebears did, and that the Parsis of these beautiful Blue Hills live here as happily as I, and many others, before me have done.

Written by Homi Dhunjeebhoy on 1 September 2024

Did You Know? Historic 1980 Rock Concert by ‘The Police’ in Mumbai Was Organised by Parsi Ladies

In 1980, Parsi ladies from the Time and Talents Club organised a concert with the rock band The Police in Mumbai. This historic event was the band’s first and only performance in India and marked the debut of a British rock band in the country.

Article by Namya Sinha | Times Now News

Updated Sep 4, 2024, 19:58 IST

The Police band with Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland. (Photo: www.thepolice.com)

Those who grew up in the late 1970s and 1980s with an ear for rock and reggae would know about the cult following of the rock band “The Police”. With vocalist Sting, drummer Stewart Copeland, and guitarist Andy Summers, the band was a rage until they split in 1984.

Interestingly, the band played their only show in India in 1980, hosted by the ‘Parsi ladies’ of the Time and Talents Club at Rang Bhavan, Bombay (present day Mumbai). Rang Bhavan was an iconic open-air theatre at Dhobi Talao in south Mumbai, which was shut down in 1993. It became a historic concert as the Parsi “aunties” were responsible for bringing one of the most popular rock bands to Mumbai. The event was a fundraiser in aid of the armed forces.

A video posted on the official Facebook page of The Police shows the band members greeting and meeting ladies who were members of the Time and Talent Club as they sat around a table.

As news of their performance spread, people started coming, and Rang Bhavan, with a capacity of 5,000, was full. The merchandise, which mostly consisted of T-shirts, was all sold out!

“We had an idea… It was really our manager, my brother Miles, who said, ‘Let’s take this out. Let’s go somewhere new.’ Of course, there were equipment hassles… the electricity. Where is the plug? At the sound check, they thought that the concert was starting, and they just came over the walls. They trashed all the fancy seats for all the front-row people who paid for the show. We were playing to the people on the street, and they responded exactly in the way that an audience in Leeds would respond, which was pretty cool. That was one of the most emotional shows we ever played,” said Stewart Copeland.

It was Mumbai’s first-ever rock concert by a British band, and the fundraiser ended up being a massive success.