Satarawala’s salient touch

Died: Kershasp Tehmurasp Satarawala 85, former gover­nor of the Punjab and Goa, and India’s ambassador to Mexico, in Poona on August 20, 2001, in his sleep.

"As the senior-most among the IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officers, he was looked up to with great affection by his colleagues in the service. As a human being he represented everything that was noble and correct. I will always cherish very pleasant memories of my long friendship with this great and good man.” Maha­rashtra governor Dr P. C. Alexander’s fulsome praise presaged the tributes showered on the former civil servant, governor and ambassador at a remembrance meeting convened by Delhi Parsi Anjuman president Lt Gen (retd) Adi Sethna at Delhi’s India International Centre on August 28, 2001.

"We meet this evening, as family and friends, to remember and rejoice in the life well spent of Padma Bhushan Satarawala,” noted Sethna. "Everything Kersi touched he adorned — wherever he went he was looked up to and admired for his ability and at the same time respected and loved for his human­ity, his innate goodness, his care and concern for his fellow men... Few are aware of his great concern for, and his efforts in binding together and encouraging, talent wherever it was found.”

To chief vigilance commissioner N. Vittal, Satara­wala "was not an ordinary bureaucrat. He had the capac­ity to rise above the details... not to look at any file merely as a case to be disposed of (but to) look at the larger implications of any decisions that could be taken.

"His affection was universal and he was one person who was not at all status conscious... As advisor to the governor of Gujarat in 1974, the ease with which he moved around with the public and won the affection of the people, especially while inspecting scarcity work or work relating to rural development was indeed re­markable...

"I still remember the day in 1974 when I took a batch of the latest recruits of the IAS to him when he was advisor to the governor. He had a look at the young recruits and his first comment was: ‘Do you people realize that you will be retiring in the 21st century?’ That was the first time I have heard anyone look 30 years ahead and articulate the fact that the century was coming to an end though it was still a quarter century away.”

Born in Satara on February 15, 1916, the eldest of Tehmurasp and Meherbai’s four children, Kershasp arrived by carriage to his paternal home in Maha­bleshwar where his father had a pharmacy. A boarding student at Panch­gani’s Billimoria High School, Sa­tarawala obtained his BA (Hons) in economics from Poona’s Wadia College but opted to pursue his master’s degree in political science at the Government College in Lahore because he had read that that institution had the best tutors for the ICS (Indian Civil Service) exam in all of India, informs his wife Frainy. Though he stood 10th at the all-India level, his appointment to the civil service was deferred to accommodate two Muslim candi­dates. "The British promised that if he joined the army, after the war he could join the ICS with 1941 seniority. That is what happened,” writes Frainy.

Kershasp and Frainy (née Bilimoria), whose father later became Bom­bay’s police commissioner, were married in Belgaum in December 1947. In those riot-ridden days Major Satara­wala, then a graduate of the Armed Forces Staff Col­lege, Quetta holding the World War II campaign medals, the Burma Star, the India Medal and the War Medal was in charge of the Humayun’s Tomb Camp in Delhi whence thousands of Muslims bound for Pakistan boarded the trains at Nizammudin Station and Lady Mount­batten made regular visits.

As a civil servant he was first posted as assistant collector, Ahmedabad, and then, Surat. There were a number of Parsis in the Gujarat of those days, owning large tracts of land and functioning as patels in the villages, informs Frainy. Posted as collector of the Dangs (1949-52) Satarawala "loved his work so much, he often said he’d be willing to work without pay!” she recalls.

But Delhi beckoned. He became chief controller of imports and exports when Lal Bahadur Shastri was the minister for commerce. He headed the Indian delegation to ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission on Asia and the Pacific) meetings in Bangkok, was managing direc­tor, and later, chairman, of Indian Airlines Corpora­tion, secretary to the Gujarat Government’s Department of Industries, Mines and Power. On three separate occasions (1971-72, 1974-75 and 1980), when Gujarat came under President’s rule, Satarawala was appointed advi­sor to the governor — a function he also discharged in Orissa (1973-74) and Jammu and Kashmir (1977).

The Zoroastrian member of the National Minorities Commission (1981-83) his expertise was simultaneously channelled into the organization of ASIAD — the IX Asian Games held in Delhi — as coordinator and vice chairman in 1981-82. Working from 8 a.m. to the wee hours of the morning he drove himself and his team to ensure the success of the Games, and earned the Padma Bhushan, remembered Frainy.

During a year’s stint as lieutenant governor of Goa, Diu and Daman, the heads of 40 countries congregated for the CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meet) in Goa. Satara­wala’s personal attention to detail had led then UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to remark: "Governor, you are everywhere!” recalled Frainy. He introduced each of the Archaeological Survey of India’s (ASI) personnel at the Old Goa pier to visiting dignitaries, Chief Justice of India Sam Bharucha had noted at the Delhi memorial meet, Frainy related to Parsiana. (Despite the official duties Satarawala had found the time to write to Parsiana regarding the dakhma and agiary in Diu, answering queries, providing material from ASI publications.) The affection he in­spired was reflected in newspaper headlines "Good Governor goes” and "Can’t he stay longer?” remembered Frainy.

"He would have loved to stay on — he loved Goa — but it was the Punjab after Operation Blue Star in 1984 June. He could not refuse. He was (required) to soothe the feelings of the people. It was most difficult. He needed time,” she added.

His last posting was as Ambassador to Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador where he studied and spoke Spanish at the age of 70 plus and was conferred the Order of the Aztec.

He continued soldiering for the environment after his retirement as vice president of the Bombay Natural History Society during the Society’s painful transition years after the demise of renowned ornithologist Dr Salim Ali. As J. C. Daniel, the Society’s honorary secretary, noted in his letter of condolence to Frainy, "Despite his problems of age and ill-health, he made many trips from (Poona) to (Bombay) to help us... He embodied the spirit of altruism.” Daniel wrote that his first encounter with Satarawala had been during India’s first major ecological project — to save the habitat of the Asiatic lion in Gujarat’s Gir National Park. Satara­wala was then advisor to the governor but "always found time for selfless service for the cause of conservation... (and) was greatly instrumental in saving this wonderful species.”

He was a founder member of INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art, Culture and Heritage) and his enthusiasm for the preservation and restoration of India’s heritage spilled over into a series of letters to Parsiana on the progress of the restoration of the Wadia-built frigate HMS Trincomalee in Plymouth, England, providing contacts and material to enable us to do a cover story on the project.

For five years he served as secretary-general of the Family Planning Association of India (FPAI). President emeritus of the FPAI Avabai Wadia records in her memoirs, The light is ours, "At a meeting of the government Central Council of Health and Family Planning which I attended, the advisor to the governor of Gujarat, Satara­wala, spoke in such thoughtful and knowledgeable terms on the importance of population and family planning that I felt that, if only we could have someone like that, we could really progress. I knew his high post of advisor was constitutionally for a limited period, and I approached him with some trepidation, since what we could offer was nowhere near as elevated as he was used to. But he was a man of strong convictions and showed an interest in working with us. After a year when he fulfilled his other commitments, he joined us in June 1976. This proved to be a milestone in advancing our work and prestige, for he was highly able and commanded great respect from all who met him.

"On two occasions, however, the Central Government recalled Satara­wala for important duties. On the first occasion it was to help organize the general election in Kashmir and on the second to help in organizing the prestigious Asian Games which India hosted. When a third occasion arose in July 1981, Satarawala had to resign his post with us as the Government appointed him as a member of the Minorities Commission and later as the governor of Goa.”

Despite his preoccupations, being on the directorial board of very many companies, Satarawala continued his lifelong love affair with the twin hill-stations of Mahableshwar and Panchgani. He knew all about their flora and fauna. That is where he had intended to retire, though he never thought he ever would, reminisces Frainy. He had made a deposit on their Poona house "on an off-chance,” but in the later years that became the base from which he made his frequent enjoyable trips to visit his daughters and their families — Phiroza and Vijay Singh in Simla, Drs Anita and Amir Samaan in England, Ferida who runs the foodline Yum-Yum and radiologist Dr Avnish Chopra in Delhi. His seven grandchildren Ayesha, Nalin, Jai, Mark, Michael, Naval and Avnish and two great-grandchildren Tasha and Reyhan were the light of his eyes.

His passion for classical music never waned. His LP (long playing) record collection even during the war years numbered 900-1,000 which he delighted in playing on his handcranked gramo­phone, recalls Frainy. Satarawala slip­ped away in his sleep after telling Frainy, "I am so sleepy.” "At 9 p.m. we were at a concert. By 1 a.m. he was no more,” Frainy adds sadly.

Once he retired, he refused any invitation to be chief guest, never pulled rank, joined the queues at the post office as a rank and file Indian. At the Delhi meet journalist Inder Malhotra recalled the commotion he had witnessed at the Bombay airport because Satarawala insisted on standing in the queue! Frainy said he enjoyed sharing a cup of tea with any plumber or carpenter who worked in their home. "According to our religion you do not work for rewards,” Satarawala had maintained.

Although his parents and brother Jangoo had been consigned to the dakhma in Poona, Kersi’s urn of ashes rests in the Mahableshwar aramgah because of the unhappy conditions at Doongerwadi now, says Frainy, adding, "Kersi passed away the way he lived — with dignity.”

Satarawala is survived by his wife Frainy and their three daughters Phiroza Singh, Anita Samaan and Ferida Chopra, and sister Thrity Irani.