Principal role model

"Khurshed teacher has three known passions in life – Tata School, Tata School and Tata School… so dedicated and devoted is she to her institution, her alma mater,” summed up Parizad Major at a function to felicitate Khurshed Masani on her recent appointment as headmistress of Nagpur’s J. N. Tata Parsi Girls’ High School after 36 years of service as a teacher. A resident of Tata Baugh, the colony deemed it fit to accord her a special felicitation on the occasion of Teachers’ Day on September 5, 2005, mentions a write up forwarded to Parsiana by Shernaz N. Daver.

Having joined the Tata School as a music teacher in 1969, she later started teaching English in high school. "Girls who have had the privilege of learning under her make it a point to send their children to Tata School because she personifies what the School stands for — high moral standards and discipline… Whether conducting board exams or field trips, organizing concerts or elocution, teaching Girl Guides or social service, she has always been at the helm of affairs, urging her students to strive harder for the glory of the School…She despises any kind of hypocrisy or pretence and strives to be a role model for her students,” added Major.

Masani (at the mike) while from left Navroze Daver, Narges Desai and Ervad Sohrab Bharucha look on

An associate and licentiate of the Trinity College of Music, London in piano playing she has passed on her love for music to many youngsters and trained them for the College’s theory and practical examinations. Credit for the much appreciated school concerts should in large measure go to her, states the write-up.

It is after 27 years that the School has seen another Parsi principal, it was recalled at the function when Navroze Daver, vice president of the Nagpur Anjuman and a resident of the colony presented her a shawl. "Khurshed teacher has crossed many hurdles with equanimity and borne the highs and lows of life with dignity,” acknowledged her students.