The visionary trustee

Died: Dr Russi Dhunjishaw Anklesaria, 85, visionary trustee of the Calcutta Zoroastrian Community’s Religious and Charity Fund (CZCRCF) for 25 years, in Calcutta on March 17, 2006.

The first person to address the congregation at all community meetings in Calcutta — be it the annual general meeting or an open meeting — was always Anklesaria for that was the understanding on which he was allowed to step down as trustee of the CZCRCF when all other pleas and persuasive tactics failed. "Dr Anklesaria was very unsparing of himself in the efforts that he put in on the community’s behalf. When he took up a project he saw it to the end, never stinted in the amount of time or effort that it took and he was regular like clock-work. As a trustee he was here each and every morning and he would stay for an hour, sometime for two, supervising the work done by the trust for the community,” recalled senior CZCRCF trustee Noomi Mehta at the well-attended condolence meeting convened at the Olpadvala Memorial Trust Hall on March 27, 2006.

Anklesaria: foresight and zeal

Summarizing the proceedings of the condolence meeting when stalwarts of the community paid their respects to Anklesaria, a special issue of Calcutta Gavashni was dedicated to "a great man — a great soul — an icon.” In fact the venue of the condolence meeting is regarded as "Anklesaria’s vision” for it was his farsightedness which converted a plot of land into a pot of gold for the Parsi community to enable it to carry on serving the community members from the income of the five upper floors given out on rent. "But being a visionary he had to pay a price himself…for there were always critics, there were always naysayers and there were always people willing to cast a doubt,” remembers Mehta describing Anklesaria as "extremely bold, very quick in decision making and very swift in implementing a decision once it was made. He never stood by the protocol of recording minutes, proposing a course of action of what needed to be done, calling committee meetings… One of his lasting contributions to the CZCRCF was the cold coffee he introduced in the office which we still enjoy to this day…”

He was till the very last day senior trustee of the R. D. Mehta Atash Adaran having served it for nearly 33 years and presided over its affairs through some very difficult times,” summed up co-trustee Noshir Tankariwalla. "As a trustee of the R. D. Mehta Trust he along with his co-trustees was instrumental in the sale of the 9 Rainey Park property at a handsome price and this has made our cash strained agiary affluent enough to no longer ask for support but also to be able to give support to worthy causes,” he added.

"When you go to the R. D. Mehta Atash Adaran and enter the new clean bright hall, remember Anklesaria who renovated it for you. And when the frail and infirm members of your family who once again are now able to go up and pay their homage before the sanctum sanctorum, bless Anklesaria and recite a prayer for him for having the foresight of installing a lift for their convenience. Consider all these as monuments to his memory, thank him, remember him and bless him,” urged Burjor Modi, president of the Parsee Zoroastrian Association of Calcutta.

The panthaky of the Adaran Ervad Soli Kotwal who regarded Anklesaria as his "philosopher, mentor and guide” for the last 40 years noted, "The mobeds, kamdars and I will always be grateful for the love, care and concern he always showered on us.”

As a highly skilled surgeon Ankle­saria was respected by the medical fraternity. Yet he made time to humbly serve on the medical panel of the Calcutta Zoroastrian Stree Mandal (CZSM) for several years and was always ready to help and guide us on issues when we went to him for counsel,” stated CZSM past president Shirin Tata.

Having been treated by the good doctor on countless occasions when growing up in Calcutta, Ave Lawyer wrote in her condolence letter, "At the end of the day along would come Uncle Russi in his signature safari suit, his little black bag, and regardless of how rotten I felt, I knew everything would be okay. It was just something about his calm manner and the reassurance that he radiated, not to mention the fact that he was always smiling, sent a clear message that things weren’t really that bad…” Cyrus Meherji gratefully acknowledged how for the last 15 years of his life his father suffering from high blood pressure was given free monthly check-ups by Anklesaria.

"The zeal with which he dedicated his work to a specific cause was something one would love to emulate…” Working in tandem with his wife Olga who was very active with the Saklat Physical Culture Institute (SPCI) Cubs "Ankle­saria was the man behind the scenes who never said no for any request for help in any way and always had a smile on his face,” reminisced SPCI president Noshir Wadia. Working with him for the Scout Troop’s golden jubilee celebrations in 1986 and 75 years of scouting in 1982, Wadia noted, "His response to spearhead the group in fundraising during both these events has helped the Institute immensely and we owe a deep debt of gratitude for this continuous support to the Scouting and Guiding movement.”

Bombay born Anklesaria’s education was at Calcutta’s St Xavier’s School after which he joined the Calcutta Medical College to continue the family’s medical connections, his father being a dentist. During his years at the Medical College, along with a group of Parsi boys he climbed Mt Kanchenjunga up to a height of 24,000 ft, all of them without proper gear or footwear. On his return he wrote a book pertaining to their adventure called Himachal. His interest in surgery took him to London where he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and returned to Calcutta by ship, working for his passage as the ship’s surgeon, according to his life profile.

The Anklesaria family (L to R): Darius, Zafia, Olga, Farhad, Russi and Indira

Having learnt the violin from the age of four, by the time he was 18 he became a Fellow of the Trinity College of Music in London and was the leading violinist in the Calcutta Symphony Orchestra. His other interests included photography, the Lions movement where he became the district governor, and his passion for dogs and horses. At the Tollygunge Club he was deeply involved in the gymkhana amateur racing and in the mid-’70s became the course designer of all the horse show jumping events. Known for his good sense of humor, one of his standing instructions to his staff was to convey "Sahib tau jail mé gaya (Sir has gone to jail)!” if there were any telephone enquiries while he was on duty at the Alipore Jail as a visiting doctor, recalled Tankariwalla.

"He was a lover of good theater, be it in English or Gujarati,” said Zarin Rustomji, vice president of the Calcutta Parsee Amateur Dramatic Club (CPADC), remembering how he would invariably be present for both the CPADC productions each year and expressing how they would miss him at their centenary events. She also appreciated his efforts in helping her late father Jehanbax Kapadia to participate and win prizes in international veteran athletic meets.

"As an 18-year-old teenager, I listen to everybody’s advice but there are very few people’s words I would adhere to, and one of them is my dear grandpa,” publicly acknowledged his grandson Farhad. Granddaughter Zafia, presently studying in North Carolina, was appreciative of all the encouragement she received from her "Danpap” who would make his way to every swimming competition and every horse show that she and her brother participated in, and how he read to her beautiful stories about horses and Greek mythology and instilled in her the love for poetry with the first poem he read to her being: "If you can fill the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds worth of distance run…Yours is the earth, and everything that is in it…”

The sporting surgeon is survived by his wife Olga and son Dr Darius.