Honoring the icons

How do you honor a man who has everything — wealth, position, geniality — and who gives more to the community than he gets? As Jamshed Guzder’s third term of office as trustee of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) drew to a close his fellow trustees elevated their 87-year-old chairman and colleague of 27 years to become the BPP’s first chairman emeritus. The Punchayet’s decision was endorsed by the community in a spate of felicitations hosted by various baugs and associations and the participation of anjumans throughout India in the function at Cusrow Baug organized by the Punchayet in conjunction with the World Zoroastrian Organisation (WZO) and the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India (FPZAI) on January 25, 2003.

The other eminent Zoroastrian honored that day was renowned jurist and Rajya Sabha member Fali Nariman who had been conferred the prestigious 2002 Justice Prize of the Peter Gruber Foundation in a special ceremony on September 22, 2002 at the ancestral home of US’s revered former Chief Justice John Marshall. The citation which accompanied the gold medal and cash award read, "He has over many years given exceptional leadership in a legal community whose thinkers and doers have inspired the development of a creative jurisprudence that facilitates the binding together of a diverse nation, helps control the exercise of public power and seeks to enable the poor, minorities and the marginalized to claim their basic rights to human dignity.”

The two celebrities were deluged with shawls, mementoes and flowers by approximately 28 other associations in traditional Parsi style.

"Jamshed Guzder is a household name among Zoroastrians not only in India but in the great Parsi diaspora,” senior BPP trustee Minoo Shroff told the glittering audience which included members of the Guzder and Nariman families gathered to witness the community laud their respective patriarchs. Shroff, who succeeds Guzder as BPP chairman, spoke of the latter’s dignity and decorum. The "social evangelist” had endeared himself with his "warm smile and hug to prince and lowly alike,” noted Shroff offering his best wishes for a "long and purposeful life filled with achievements and total fulfilment.”

Referring to Guzder as "the most charitable Zoroastrian ever,” noted solicitor, BPP trustee and WZO India president Dadi Engineer commented on the many Parsis thronging the office of this "genial, kind-hearted gentleman to the core... every single day, asking for help.” He then gently ribbed the aging bon vi­vant: "The Limca Book of Records is carrying out a survey. In the Punchayet’s 300+ years who has been the trustee who has kissed the maximum number of ladies in a gentlemanly manner?”

Describing BPP trusteeship as an "exacting assignment that impinges (on the individual’s) time, self-interest and family concerns, which demands a proper balance between being businesslike and humane, which requires the maintenance of the self-respect and dignity of beneficiaries as well as the courage to speak up when in the minority,” BPP trustee and WZO Trust Funds managing trustee Dinshaw Tamboly marvelled at Guz­der’s "resilient character (and) mass appeal... Today is a rare occasion of roses, roses all the way... Normally, brickbats outweigh bouquets!” he noted.

Tamboly, who had withdrawn his own nomination for BPP trusteeship in January 1996 when Guzder revoked his decision to retire and expressed a desire to seek reelection, had then told Parsiana, "I respect Jimmy too much to fight him.” Tamboly now told the audience how Guzder had been a "tangible support... shaped careers and lives (of) dozens of people who have since established themselves.” He recalled that he had visited Guzder, then executive director of Bombay Dyeing, in the mid 1960s when "textiles was the glamor industry,” seeking a toehold in that company’s marketing department. Guzder had informed him that there was no opening in Bombay Dyeing but had offered a position in his family firm N. S. Guzder and Company saying, "he would try and fit me into Bombay Dyeing when the opportunity arose.” Nine months later Tamboly said he was summoned, informed of the opening in Bombay Dyeing and handed his letter of appointment. "I had forgotten my dream but Jimmy did not forget! Thirty-eight years later my association with Bombay Dyeing continues,” stated Tamboly who is now that company’s principal agent in Navsari.

"It is an education to observe the way (Guzder) does things with good grace and finesse. Many have created wealth. Some distribute their wealth; some don’t. Jimmy shares willingly, but with humility, dignity and refinement. He addresses the recipient in the same tone as his business colleagues,” attested Tamboly, adding, "Classic Jimmy, like vintage wine, keeps on getting better and sweeter!”

Vice president of the Delhi Parsi Anjuman (DPA) and of the WZO India Dadi Mistry had a similar tale to tell of Guzder who had helped him start off as a liaison officer in Delhi in the 1970s. "I know that people who go to him don’t come away empty-handed,” he noted.

The FPZAI’s enduring honorary secretary Keki Gandhi recalled his futile attempts to recover the Federation’s records which rested in BPP custody. Those were the days when the Punchayet had stalked out of the Federation because Shiavax Nargolwala, then DPA president and FPZAI vice president, had publicly criticized the BPP electoral system at the Third World Zoroastrian Congress. At that time Guzder had labelled Gandhi "illegal secretary” but after the BPP rejoined the Federation in 1983 Guzder got all those anjumans who had seceded along with the BPP (with the exception of Bangalore) to return to the Federation and has "encouraged and supported whatever the Federation has done,” said Gandhi.

Since its inception the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe (ZTFE) has accepted the BPP as the apex body of the Parsi community, noted its honorary secretary and librarian Malcolm Deboo, adding that Guzder was the last of the Parsi sethias, the captains of industry who created and distributed wealth to the community in India.

As management expert and vice chairman of the Raymonds Group, Shroff was well aware of Fali Nariman’s popularity in commercial circles. The latter’s "legal acumen and strong advocacy” led him to be the first choice of corporates seeking legal help and advice. Extolling his "unblemished record” of public service, Shroff noted that Nariman is "at his sparring best on issues of social importance,” and had resigned as India’s additional solicitor general (a post he held from 1972-75) as a matter of principle when Indira Gandhi declared Emergency rule which deprived the people of their democratic rights, noted Shroff. In a recent article on religious conversion in The Indian Express Nariman had maintained the equality of Indian citizens irrespective of caste or religion, said Shroff.

Barely 13 when Burma was overrun by the Japanese in World War II, Rangoon-born Nariman had had a harrowing experience as he trekked overland to India with his family, revealed Engineer. Alumnus of Bombay’s St Xavier’s College and Government Law College, Engineer traced Nariman’s spiraling professional graph since his early years in the chambers of the fabled Sir Jamshedji Kanga as the devil (as juniors are called in legal parlance) of senior advocate Khurshedji Bhabha. Swiftly acquiring a large and lucrative practice in Bombay, Nariman went to Delhi as additional solicitor general in 1972 and continued to practice in the Supreme Court thereafter. "His name figures in every important matter decided by the Supreme Court,” said Engineer providing a breathless recount of Nariman’s activities: He has been the president of the Bar Association of India since 1991, vice-chairman of the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, Paris since 1989 and a member of the Court of the London Court of International Arbitration since 1988. He is currently honorary chairman of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration after having been its president for over seven years. He is currently co-chair of the Human Rights Institute of the International Bar Association since July 2001.

A member, Advisory Council of Jurists of the Asia-Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions and of the Advisory Board of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) since November 1999, Nariman has also been engaged, as chairman of the sub-group constituted by the Prime Minister of India, in preparing the draft of a new comprehensive statute to replace the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, in view of the rapid convergence of telecom, computers, television and electronics.

In the course of these activities Nariman has garnered a wealth of laurels: Padma Bhushan in 1991, named "Living Legend of the Law” by the International Bar Association, World Association of Press Councils’ Global Media Laurel and, most recently the Justice Prize 2002. In 1999 the President of India nominated Nariman to a six-year term in the Rajya Sabha where he sits on a host of committees including the Standing Committee on External Affairs.

Describing Nariman’s advocacy as "persuasive and forceful,” Engineer credited him with the knack to quickly "spot the point that makes a dent” in any matter. A genial, charming individual with a lovely sense of humor and a hearty laugh who enjoys a good party, a good dinner and the Parsi peg, Nariman has a "deep and abiding faith in Zoroastrian prayers. His son Rohinton (also an advocate) is a navar, though Fali is not,” Engineer profiled the jurist’s human side.

Commenting on the number of outstanding Parsi lawyers each of whom has risen to "high and distinct position by dint of hard work,” former chief justice of India Yeshwant Chandrachud mused how there’s "nothing in common” between Homi Seervai, Nani Palkhivala, Fali Nariman and Soli Sorabji despite having grown up in Kanga’s chamber — "They haven’t tried to ape anyone... (they) achieved greatness by personal hardwork.” Chandrachud, who had been a favorite lecturer of students at the Government Law College along with Nani Palkhivala, recalled Nariman attending class in full-sleeved shirts and a belt at the waist — quite unlike the general run of informally dressed students. "Also, while we were teaching we would find to our embarrassment and anger that Fali would be whispering in the ears of the student next to him!” recalled Chandrachud. A fellow lecturer had complained, "That fellow Nariman seems to be good but he is talking, talking, talking while I’m teaching — writing and talking in the first row!’ He once got so upset, he asked Nariman to leave the class — one of the few students to be so banished! He didn’t accept what we said blindly, didn’t take for granted that what we said was the gospel truth!” acknowledged the erstwhile teacher. Even as a Supreme Court judge Chandrachud said he had enjoyed the Narimans’ hospitality countless times as Fali poured a "double Parsi peg, one for me and one for (Fali’s wife) Bapsi” and noted that at such times the lawyer "doesn’t talk law (but) is friendly, congenial... has not only the ability to learn but the willingness to learn... is a student even today, at the peak of his career.” Nor were there any strings attached — "The next day Fali had lost the case.” So persuasive is Nariman "without meaning to be persuasive” that when two of his fellow judges on the three-judge bench "were for Fali, I was against him. One doesn’t want to be a victim of Fali’s persuasiveness!” declared Chandrachud.

Tamboly wondered "how one steeped in such a dry subject as law can speak with such wit and humor.” Mistry noted how the DPA taps Nariman when it needs legal advice. "When the Finance Bill two years ago demanded that all public charitable trusts with a corpus of over 10 lakh rupees had to publish accounts in newspapers, we went to Fali. He spoke to the people concerned. When the clause was withdrawn and we thanked the finance minister, he said, ‘Don’t thank me. Thank Fali Nariman for convincing me.’”

"Jimmy, I’m happy to be at this function felicitating you,” said the balding, bespectacled legal wizard. Surveying the garden, he remarked, "from the dais we can see that the garden has perceptibly filled up. I’m not so naive to believe that they’ve come to see me. (I’m told) there’s dinner. They’re captive till then!”

Grateful for all the "kind words — too kind in fact,” Nariman recommended that in future the organizers follow a J. R. D. Tata anecdote: at a function the chairman who forgot Tata’s bio data introduced him saying "Regarding J. R. D. Tata, the less said the better!”

The pleasure of meeting vintage friends evoked a nostalgic memory of former Indian attorney general C. K. Daftary as he strode into and surveyed the High Court Library on a visit to Bombay. "We asked if he needed something and he said, ‘No, no, I’m just seeing if all my enemies are dead!’”

Chiding Chandrachud for being "too modest about himself,” Nariman recalled him as a "brilliant tutor who taught not only law but love for law, as did Nani Palkhivala and Jal Vimadalal. "Courtesy and politeness was in their genes — qualities important for a good judge.”

Warming to the ephemeral nature of human justice Nariman philosophized, "It is true to say we get what we deserve, but we don’t always deserve what we get.” He remembered his grandmother talking of Bakhtiyar Rustomji Hakim who was married to her cousin — until he disappeared. "Next they heard that Bucks Ruston had been convicted of murder in England and hanged. He was said to have killed his second wife and the maid though the body of his wife was not found. His effigy was even put in Madame Tussaud’s Museum. A few years ago,” continued Nariman, "Teren­ce Whitticker wrote in The Times of India asking for people who knew Bucks Ruston. It seems he was remembered in Lancashire with great affection and believed to be wrongly hanged!” Another case in point was of the Parsi matrimonial jury that awarded the restitution of conjugal rights to a man who triumphantly dragged his weeping, wailing wife out of court. Six months later she returned with a bandaged nose petitioning for divorce. With his mother’s help the husband had acted out the old Parsi idiom: "Mooi nu naak kaapi naakhyu (cut the female’s nose).” The third case Nariman cited was of the celebrated political scientist Harold Laski who, winning a suit for defamation, was given £ 1 as damages. He said "Justice stinks.”

Nonetheless Nariman said, "I can’t adequately express my admiration for Jamshedji Kanga, Nani Palkhivala and two chief justices Harilal Kania and Sam Bharucha. It was said of Kania (that) his greatness was acquired by osmosis by his juniors. I count myself singularly fortunate. Jamshedji was the standing counsel of the Punchayet. I had the opportunity to draft the opinions. The trustees are always criticized for what they do and what they don’t do... It is an obtuseness that we have... In Delhi every taxi driver claims to know how to govern the country. In Bombay every Parsi thinks he can run the Punchayet! It is the spirit of adventure and individuality which we must cultivate,” said Nariman applauding Mistry for his work in establishing the World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce. "We Parsi Zoroastrians owe it to ourselves to do something for the community and the country.”

Guzder began his brief acknowled­gement of the plaudits he had received: "I never dreamt I’d be elected trustee but for the blessings of Ahura Mazda.” He recalled how noted solicitor Shiavax Vakil had resigned from the Punchayet in the wake of community criticism for entering the dakhma. Guzder had triumphed against Jimmy Shroff in the election for the trusteeship seat vacated by Vakil in 1975. In passing, Guzder touched upon the development of the fallow land adjoining Doongerwadi ("Lady Jehangir wanted it to remain undeveloped because of the fear that firecrackers would disturb vultures”), the declining population and the start of the Punchayet’s third child subsidy program (largely underwritten by the Guzder trust and family) and ended with a tribute to his fellow trustees, the Punchayet’s chief executive officer Beh­ram Dastur, its executives and staff.

The evening’s compère social worker Homai Modi, in her vote of thanks recalled Guzder’s concern for people, thanked him for his "net of benevolence,” Nariman for "making us proud to have one such as you,” Engineer for "conceiving and organizing this project,” Dara Marfatia, Silloo Mahava, Rusi Bhumgara and Silloo Andhyarujina for their help in getting the show on the road and the Hansotia family at whose home the revelers congregated for an apéritif before proceeding for the dinner catered by Tanaz Godiwala.