Chothia, the cultivator

Died: Homi Pirojshaw Chothia, 79, retired conservator of forests and erstwhile trustee of Shri Parsi Panchayat Vadodara on March 27, 2004 in Vadodara.

"For Homi Dada, as his near and dear ones affectionately called him, the period between birth and death was not meant to be wasted in melancholy sermons; life meant eat, drink, humor, laughter, travel and adventure. He lived life to the full (and) died the way he lived it — making faces at his grandchildren at the breakfast table,” wrote his son-in-law Kersi Mehta.

Forest conser­-vator Chothia

During the three decades he spent in the forestry department his first posting was as assistant conservator of forests after which he took over as divisional forest officer where he was assigned coastal border plantation in Veraval, Somnath and Man­grol. His subsequent postings were at Surendranagar and Kutch where he was required to cultivate forests on the desert borders. On his promotion as divisional forest officer he got to serve the important forest regions of Gir, Banaskantha, Vyara and Chhotau­depur. By the time he had discharged his new role as conservator of forests he had gained substantial experience in social and farm forestry.

After retiring from service he continued to work as consul­tant for tree farming and plantations for private individuals, industries and government organizations for a better environment, free of pollution hazards. His influence had extended to the Oil and Natural Gas Commission, Kankariya Paper Mills at Kalol, Eco Systems Group, Sayaji Iron Industries and Gujarat State Fertili­zers Company Limited in Baroda...

In the late 1980s when the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India had recommended that different anju-mans plant kathi trees on its surplus lands for regular use in fire-temples, Chothia was one of the few who could offer his knowledge and expertise to the community. Besides gardening, reading and pho­tography were his other hobbies.

The third of Hilla and Pirojshah Chothia’s nine children, Homi was born in Killa Pardi, district Valsad where he had his early education up to matriculation. He then completed his sci­ence graduation from Bombay’s Elphinstone College and Royal Institute of Science, followed by a diploma from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, and another from the Forest Research Institute and Colleges at Dehra Dun. More than a decade later he got to study forestry at the Commonwealth Forest­ry Institute, Oxford, England. When he was in his sixties the jovial Chothia used to maintain, "though retired but not tired.”

He is survived by his wife Zarine and daughters Dinaz Kersi Mehta and Khush-numa Sharukh Bhathena.

P. M. G.