Bilimoria: Soldier to the core

Died: Lt Gen Faridoon Noshir Bilimoria, 72, former General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Central Army Command, of cancer in Dehra Dun on August 31, 2005.

"It was while with GOC Central Command that he was sent by the Indian Government to assess the value of the Indian Army’s presence in Sri Lanka, which was facing serious casualties fighting the Tamil Tigers in a Vietnam type situation. On the basis of his recommendation, withdrawal followed within weeks of his visit,” notes the obituary in the Times Register (London).

In the course of the 1971 war with Pakistan when India’s victory led to the transformation of East Pakistan into the sovereign state of Bangla Desh, Bilimo­ria, as commander of his parent unit, the 2nd Battalion 5th Gurkha Rifles — the Fron­tier Force that had won three Victoria Crosses in World War II and hence was known as the "VC Paltan,” was required by his brigade commander to take a town by breakfast next day. The Times article adds, "He protested this could lead to greater loss of life than appeared justified and promised the town by lunchtime, which he achieved.”

A personable captain, after six years of service with the 2/5th Gurkhas and two years as aide-de-camp to Dr Rajendra Prasad, India’s first president, where he acquired "valuable insight into the protocols and working of the Delhi administration,” Bilimoria returned to his battalion as adjutant shortly before it joined the United Nations operation in the former Belgian Congo in 1962. Engaged in the mineral-rich province of Katanga which was seeking to secede from the republic, Bilimoria and his men were guarding the Luana airfield in that chaotic country when they were fired upon, leading to full-scale action. The adjutant was "up with the attacking companies, coordinating movements, including avoidance of a minefield that had been laid as a trap,” states the Times.

Bilimoria: experience in dangerous campaigns

Appointed liaison officer to the British Army in Britain soon after the Bangla Desh war, he based himself at the School of Infantry, Warminster where he was said to be not only popular but one valued for his experience in two diplomatically difficult and dangerous campaigns.

Faridoon was the son of Ratti and the late Brig Noshir Bilimoria, one of three Parsi King’s Commissioned Officers (mea­n­ing those who had been sent to the Royal Military Academy, Sand­hurst, UK), writes his cousin Lt Gen Adi Sethna (retd). "Joining the army came naturally. Faridoon passed out of the Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun with the Rajputana Rifles Gold Medal for Leadership. As the cadet captain he had the proud privilege of commanding the passing out parade.” He was then posted to the 2/5th Gurkha Rifles.

When Bilimoria retired in 1991, he was colonel of the 5th Gurkha Rifles and president of the Gurkha Brigade. "This is a rare honor because the colonel of the Regiment and president of the Brigade is elected by all commanding officers of the regiments and who in his honorary capacity becomes the father figure of all the Gurkha Regiments in the army,” notes Sethna. In 1990 he had earned the Param Vishisht Seva Medal from the Government of India for distinguished service and, in 1989, the Colonel Adi B. Tarapore Award for excellence in the military field from the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India. He held the latter in great esteem, being always proud of his Zoroastrian roots, writes Sethna.

A keen sportsman and an ardent environmentalist, Bilimoria is credited with the development of two 300-acre parks in Bathinda and Lucknow. Married to Yasmin Italia of Hyderabad in 1960, the Bilimorias had two sons – Karan, who went on to create Cobra Beer and General Bilimoria Wines, and Nadir. Life with father included swimming with Rajiv and Sanjay Gandhi and experiencing everything with the Gurkhas. In tune with the finest Indian secular thought, in the army "every community’s functions were celebrated. I’ve been brought up to worship God anywhere,” Karan had told Parsiana in the course of an interview (see "Cobra’s cheer,” Parsiana, November 2002). After retiring from the army Faridoon served as chairman of Cobra Indian Beer and as founding president of the company’s philanthropic arm, the Cobra Foundation.

Stern but benign, professional to the core, Bilimoria had not initially been in favor of his son’s commercial venture. In the course of his acknowledgement of the Zoroastrian Entrepreneur of the Year award by the World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce at the Eighth World Zoroastrian Congress in London in June 2005 Karan had acknowledged his father’s sterling parenting: "If you want advice for work, come and see me in my office… If you are starting at the bottom, you will be given lots of tasks. First do them. Then do a little bit extra … Go that extra mile…”

Among the numerous other activities that involved him during his time were his commitment as trustee on the board of Doon School and the Cambrian Hall Education Trust, India. He served as chairman of the Jardine Securior Gurkha Services in India and as a partner in Hong Kong, and continued to oversee the welfare and employment of his Gurkha ex-servicemen. He also looked after the Parsi aramgahs in Mussoorie and Dehra Dun. "The Dehra Dun Parsi Anjuman greatly benefited from his expertise and both the aramgahs have been improved considerably,” adds Sethna.

When he passed away with his family by his side at the Military Hospital in Dehra Dun after a long and hard fought battle with cancer, the Gurkhas gave him a moving farewell. After the Zoroastrian religious ceremony, the funeral with full military honors at the Indian Military Academy in Dehra Dun concluded as the bugle’s last notes of the Rouse Reville escorted the soul on its onward journey.

Bilimoria is survived by his 92-year-old mother Ratti, wife Yasmin, sons Karan and Nadir, and sister Shireen.