Dum in Daruwalla

"The past is dead. The present goes away too fast. There is comfort in the future. I live in hope. To me life is all about change and hope,” well known astrologer Bejan Daruwalla who celebrated his 74th birthday on July 11, 2005 was quoted in the Afternoon Despatch and Courier.

"At 74, he is energy-plus and full of Parsi dum and masti (fun and frolic),” commented managing editor of the Afternoon Mark Man­uel in the daily. "He believes he is still ruddy and good looking, despite the 210 pounds he lugs around with difficulty on his five-foot roly-poly frame. You will be amazed to know that in his college days which I think were spent in Ahmedabad he used to... play hockey and cricket. Today he cannot bend to tie his shoelaces. So he wears soft leather slip-ons or bedroom slippers. But his girth is matched by his mirth. The secret of his good health and immense cheer, he once told me, is the presence of Jupiter in his birth chart.”

Daruwalla : "change and hope”

As Daruwalla had explained to Manuel on his 70th birthday, "It is the planet of rambunctious good health and brings out the eater and writer in me.” He had then famously announced, "I eat editors like you for breakfast, lunch and dinner.” Manuel who invariably joins him for dinner on his birthdays, commented on the astrologer’s insatiable appetite and reputation for eating "everything under the Sun, Moon and Saturn and not just on his birthday.”

Wont to starting his columns and conversations with "Shree Ganeshaya Namah,” as Manuel remarked, "The Ganesha bit I have never understood. Bejan wears the sudreh-kusti, I know he goes to the agiary but he told me when he dies he will go to Ganesha!…I have learned to accept him and all his eccentricities…”