Early bird at the polls

"It gives me a thrill,” admits Cuffe Parade resident Jamshed Adrianvala, "to be at the voting booth before anyone else.” The spry 75-year-old, who is out of bed before 5 a.m. every morning, was the first voter present at the recent Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) elections, as he has been at earlier elections to the State Assembly and the Lok Sabha. "I just happened to be the first voter at many elections, so I’ve decided to retain the tradition,” Adrianvala informed Daily News and Analysis (DNA) in a report dated October 20, 2008.

The early bird reached Khareghat Colony about an hour before time on the first election day, October 4, 2008, only to be greeted by confused volunteers and candidates. Shocked to see no code of conduct in place, Adrianvala felt a trial election conducted earlier would have ensured a smoother run. When asked by DNA whether voting for the seven trustees was easy, he remarked, "Yes, I personally know a few of the candidates and only after studying their manifestos in detail did I come to vote… If things go wrong with the BPP, I will have to blame myself for not choosing the right candidates.” A chemical technologist by profession, Adrianvala retired as research and development manager of a large Tata company, he informed Parsiana. He holds a postgraduate degree in chemical technology, with a first class, from Bombay University’s prestigious UDCT (University’s Department of Chemical Technology), of which BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta is also an alumnus.

Seasoned sailor Jamshed Adrianvala likes to vote before anyone else

In direct "competition” with his more famous neighbor Anil Ambani, who is also known to vote really early, usually after his morning jog, Adrianvala recalls seeing the industrialist arrive at the G. D. Somani School booth in his jogging suit long before voting would commence. "Anil is always taken aback to see that I am at the booth before him. He even asked me once if I slept at the booth to make sure I got here first,” he smiled.

An ordained navar and maratab from Navsari, Adrianvala was one of the three selected out of thousands of applicants for free flying training by the Government of India in 1956. After passing all flying and written tests he obtained a private pilot’s licence in 1957 and has even done some limited flying at a club in North Carolina, USA, he told Parsiana. He has also taken gliding lessons at the Deolali Gliding Club. Adrianvala’s passion for sailing was awakened at the relatively late age of 65. A qualified helmsman, during the past decade he has participated in each and every out-of-Bombay sailing activity of the Royal Bombay Yacht Club such as long distance races, rallies, overnight camping cruises. Realizing that there was a dearth of simple instruction books for beginners, he began to write notes and drills that have now become standard training material.

The seasoned sailor has won the Most Active Yachtsman prize for five years in a row between 2001 and 2005 (being a runner-up in 2004), a remarkable achievement in a field of young contenders. This competition is open to all the members of three sailing clubs — the Royal Bombay Yacht Club, Bombay Sailing Association (also known as Mandwa Club) and the Colaba Sailing Club. In a testimonial dated September 10, 2004 the Yacht Club’s Commodore, internationally known veteran sailor, Padma Shri and Arjuna awardee Gulshan Rai, commended Adrianvala’s "calm determination” and the fact that "he has dedicated his autumnal years towards a journey into the nature and soul of sailing.” In the Club’s newsletter of August 2004, Rai had written: "…the septuagenarian sailor is a paradigm of encouragement to all of us to enjoy the freedom, peace and solitude of the seas. He often takes uninitiated ones in the quest of the final realization of empathy between man and the sea.”

The Club holds three elections annually and, naturally, the early bird has been the first to cast his vote at each and every election during the past decade, Adrianvala informed Parsiana.