“The pride of our flock”

"I’ve always been a hero worshipper of Dadabhai Naoroji. His speeches have been a constant source of advice for me,” said Lord Karan Bilimoria of Chelsea, adding, "In the central hall of Parliament in New Delhi there is a giant sized portrait of Naoroji as also in Westminster, home of the British Parliament. How many people have their portraits in two Parliaments of the world?”

Bilimoria was responding to the floral, verbal and material tributes heaped on him by a delighted community as anjumans and institutions from all over India joined the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) in felicitating the first ever Zoroastrian member of Britain’s upper house, the House of Lords. In Bilimoria’s words, "Dadabhai Naoroji, the first Asian MP in Westminster, was a member of the Liberal Party. He was followed by Muncherji Bhownaggree, a Conservative and thereafter, Comrade Sak (Shapoorji Saklatvala) of the Labour Party. Now I have squared the circle as a neutral Lord.” Bilimoria’s is a non-party, non-political peerage conferred on the recommendation of the Appointments Commission which seeks out individuals of ability and merit to bring authority and expertise to the House of Lords.

In his welcome address BPP chairman Minoo Shroff spoke of Bilimoria’s "vision, guts, tenacity and passion – and infinite charm” which have resulted in the warmth with which he has been received in business, social and political circles in the United Kingdom. "We are honoring him on the day the country is felicitating our Indian heroes,” noted Shroff alluding to the day long festivities — and traffic jams — which marked the homecoming of India’s victorious 20-20 World Cup cricket team on September 26, 2007. BPP public relations officer Godrej Doti­vala referred to Bi­limoria’s "guts and gumption” in transferring beer technology from East to West in the teeth of conventional wisdom. And Murzban Wadia of Saronda sang the beer baron’s fulsome praise in Gujarati, set to the garba beat.

"Overwhelmed…extremely touched and very humbled,” Bilimoria recalled how his maternal grandmother Aimai Italia had given half the money he needed to go abroad to study and how his paternal grandfather Noshir Bilimoria had escorted him to the Tata and Sethna Trusts to collect the rest — an odyssey familiar to every Zoroastrian student seeking to study abroad. "Without that I wouldn’t have been able to start this journey,” said Bilimoria, acknowledging the support also of the Zartoshty Brothers Mehraban and the late Farid­oon. "While I was at university here 25 years ago, my parents had taken me on a tour of Gujarat — Navsari, Udvada, Bilimora, Bulsar, Chikali — areas so beautiful, rural, magical. This amazing community had started from there. In my life I have been lucky to receive so much support, from my wife Heather, my amazing team at Cobra…It is wonderful that you are never alone: the community supports you all the way. As Newton had said, ‘I have seen further because I have been standing on the shoulders of giants.’

"The Parsi community exemplifies that it is not enough to be the best in the world. We need to be the best for the world. We have always put back into the wider community. We may be 0.0001 percent of the population of India but we have produced two Air Chief Marshals! I told (former UK prime minister) John Major, we now have our own Air Chief Marshal Fali Major. In whatever field you name, the Parsi community has made it to the top,” exulted Bilimoria.

With aunt Arnie Kerawala (above) and with aunt Zarine Bilimo­ria, grandma Rati and uncle Jehangir Bilimoria

Thrilled that Naoroji’s first speech in the British Parliament had given the Indian people a voice, that the Grand Old Man saw himself as "representing hundreds of millions of Indians, accepting the huge responsibility,” Bilimoria noted, "his inspiration lives on forever.” At a recent celebration of Naoroji’s birth anniversary at Nehru Centre in London, a professor from the School of Oriental and African Studies had buttonholed Bilimoria to ask, "Has religion played a part in your community’s success?” "Most implicitly in action. Dadabhai Naoroji followed Zoroastrian principles in action,” he had replied.

Before he took his first nascent step in the corporate world Karan’s father, the late Lt Gen Faridoon Bilimoria had advised him "to go the extra mile…be loyal wherever you live, but never forget your roots.” "I am very proud of my Indian roots, very proud to be British and very, very proud to be Parsi,” he declared.

A votary of inclusive growth, Bi­li­moria emphasized the need to raise the living standard of the many Indians who subsist on less than a dollar a day. When Tata Steel bought over Corus, a reputed British steelmaker, in the teeth of Brazilian competition, Bilimoria too received a spate of interview requests. He said he was "jubilant because it was an Indian company and a Parsi company. But also because the Tatas have personified social responsibility. Tata Steel practiced it 100 years before people started talking about it.”

Bilimoria, currently the British co-chair of the Indo-British Partnership, noted that Dr J. J. Irani, former managing director of Tata Steel and the Partnership’s first Indian co-chair, "has been a great mentor to me. Narayana Murthy (founder of Infosys, who succeeded Irani as Indian co-chair of the Partnership) keeps saying ‘I have never met a bad Parsi in my life.’ Now Firdaus Vandrevala heads the Indian side so we are two Parsis on the Partnership – one from each side!” Another source of inspiration he acknowledged is management guru Minoo Shroff.

Saluting the memory of his great-grandfather Dinshaw Italia, an entrepreneur and member of India’s Rajya Sabha, Bilimoria reiterated that he had taken Italia’s motto "To aspire and achieve” and reshaped it to his own purposes: "To aspire and achieve against all odds, with integrity.” He also related how the Khordeh Avesta, on which he had taken his oath as a peer of the realm, is now an official sacred book in the House of Lords for any future Parsi member to swear allegiance (see "Success is a journey,” Parsiana, September 7, 2006 for a full report on Bilimoria’s induction in the House of Lords).

Bilimoria’s 93-year-old grandmother Rati Bilimoria, with a "razor sharp mind,” as he described her, sat through the proceedings, very proud of the grandson everyone feted, as did his paternal uncle Jehangir Bilimoria who graced the stage at the Walchand Hirachand Hall of the Indian Merchants’ Chamber that evening. "As the community revels in the success of Lord Bilimoria and Cobra Beer, he should be an inspiration to our youths,” noted BPP trustee Dinshaw Tamboly as he delivered his vote of thanks. "Individuals such as you are indeed the pride of our flock.”