Glorious Gandevi

Gandevi, a taluka in the district of Surat, had carved a niche in the history of Gujarat, especially during the reign of Maharaja Sayaji Rao Gaikwad of Vadodara.

Once, there were about 400 Parsis living in Gandevi. A few of them tended fields. There was a textile mill, owned and run by the Homi Mehta group in Bilimora, at a distance of four miles from Gandevi. Many Parsi youths from Gandevi used to work in the mill, earning monthly wages of Rs 20 to Rs 30. The present generation would scoff at these measly wages but in those days living was very cheap and some could even save five rupees from these wages.

There was no prohibition in Gujarat. A Parsi gentleman by the name of Kavasha used to run a pub (pithu) selling toddy, whilst another Parsi named Edulji was selling pure Mowra liquor (daru) in another pub. When prohibition was ultimately enforced in Gujarat, like many other Parsis in different parts of the state, the above two gentlemen had to close down their pubs. However, the names ‘Kavasha’ and ‘Edulji’ became synonymous with toddy and liquor, respectively. When someone wanted either of these two prohibited stimulants on the sly, he would just send for either ‘Kavasha’ or ‘Edulji.’

There are at least two institutions in Gandevi which had been established by Parsis: Gazdar’s free reading room and libr­ary and an English medium high school founded by Sir Cowasji Jehan­gir.

It is said that in Gandevi, Parsi children were in awe of a school teacher — Cawasha Gandevia or Cawasha Master. He was a strict disciplinarian. Whenever children tended to be mis­chievous, their parents would just evoke the name of Cawasha Master and the children would quieten down, à la Gabbar Singh of Sholay fame.

There is a Parsi dharamshala in Gandevi. In the good old days, it was a hub where the entire Parsi community of Gandevi along with a few other Parsis from Bilimora, Navsari, etc would congregate when Gandevi’s famous ghambars were held. The food served at these ghambars was simple, yet tasty. The older genera­tion still relishes the taste of cooked rice served from wicker baskets (topli naa chaawal).

There were some well-known Parsi families in Gandevi — Guzders (the present chairman of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet, Jamshed Guzder, hails from Gandevi), Desais, Daruwallas, Bhaga-lias, to name a few.

With the passage of time, the Parsi population of Gandevi began to decline. Youths left the place and came to Bombay, either to study or to earn. Some of them even went to far off places like East Africa. Today, around 40 Parsis remain in Gande­vi.

BHIKHAJI M. ADENWALLA