“Tarapore transformed”

After a hard day’s work, I went home clutching the March 7 issue of Parsiana which I had just received. One previous issue had gone missing and had not reached me at my Canadian address. That had irritated me. I thought the March 7 issue looked particularly thin. "Only 28 pages,” I mumbled to my equally tired spouse. That was till I went home, fixed myself a hot cup of tea and started reading Marzban Giara’s vivid and apt description in "Tarapore transformed.” That helped to put a smile back on my face and enticed me to read through the magazine with renewed enthusiasm.

Having left India 35 years ago, my husband Paterasp and I have always dreamed of retiring to India. Neither of us has visited India in decades and our memories of Gholvad, Dahanu and Udvada date back to our teenage years – memories we cherish!

On a daily basis I hear tales of India from customers, from the FedEx guy who hails from Dehradun, from the Gujarati shopkeeper in Vancouver who sells us the finest Darjeeling tea to the chap from Goa whose green eyes reveal his part Portuguese ancestry, and numerous other sources. But Giara’s description of Tarapore took me on a trip down memory lane, reviving images long since forgotten.

It is now my deepest wish to one day return to Bombay and catch the Gujarat Express at 5:45 a.m. to Boisar and then on to Tarapore via rickshaw. I dream of strolling around the little garden of the Cowasji Mobed Dharamshala, stopping by the well to take photos and then relaxing on the wide benches to enjoy the cool sea breeze. As for Tarapori patio, I have never been fortunate enough to taste it, so that too would be a unique experience. As for my better half, he would love to visit the various agiaries in the vicinity, from Navsari and Surat to Davier and Daman.

We would like to thank Giara for keeping our dreams alive; for so vigorously fanning our desire to return to our original roots.

They say the scenery in Vancouver is spectacular in its beauty. We would gladly trade it for a final trip back home.

PERVIN NIRUMVALA

Burnaby, British Columbia