Distinction for Damania

When the then President of India Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam donned the Silver Elephant award on Scouter Pesi Damania’s resplendent chest, he crowned over 60 years dedicated to the scouting movement. The district commissioner for the East Bombay Scouts and Guides District Association which stretches from Navy Nagar to Mazagaon, Damania was the only Zoroastrian among the 27 awardees of the highest annual national award in scouting "in recognition of service of the most exceptional character to the movement.”

Distributed after a lapse of five years at the Ashoka Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan on July 11, 2007, the awards honored winners from all over India representing the country’s 33 lakh scouts and guides, Damania, winner for the year 2005, told Parsiana. Selections for the honor are made by the Scouts and Guides National Awards Committee on the basis of recommendations received from each state, he adds. Apart from the Silver Elephant, a variety of other scouting awards were also distributed that day, so that the ceremony embraced nearly 200 recipients, as notes the press release.

Pesi Damania being decorated by former President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

The son of the late Ardeshir and Banoo Damania, Pesi joined the movement as a student in the Bharda New High School under scout master Dr Boman Chhapgar who later made his name as a leading marine biologist. Starting as member of the School Scout Group, Damania became associated with the 15th East Bombay Marzban Scout Group as a scout, assistant scout master and scout master over a 45-year period. By 1984 he was promoted district commissioner, a post he continues to hold. For the past three consecutive terms of five years each, he has been an elected member of the council and the executive committee of the Maharashtra State Bharat Scouts and Guides. The Long Service Award and the Medal of Merit with Bar are state awards that have come Damania’s way. In 2002 The Silver Star, a national award, was presented to him by the then defence minister of India George Fernandes.

"Scouting makes you self-sufficient. Many of my boys have gone abroad. They feel they have learnt a lot from scouting,” notes the old trooper, but nostalgia is almost all that’s left. "The movement is dying out. It has become a numbers game…We have the third largest number of scouts and guides in the world, after China and the US, but the quality is declining… Originally everything was voluntary. Now it has become a compulsory subject in schools.” The scout master too is part of the school faculty, notes Damania with a trace of regret at the commercialization of what was once a cradle of leadership. Also, the social environment has changed. "Scouting was once the only outdoor activity. The children looked forward to the camps. Now it is one more institution that has become politicized.”

Arnavaz S. Mama