Providential escape

November 8, 2008 is a date photographer Rashid Bamanbehram is not likely to forget in a hurry. On assignment at a navjote that evening, he went early to Cama Baug and was preparing to click his first photograph of the stage decoration at 4 p.m. when a coconut tree in the compound came crashing down, followed by an electric pole which it had hit, both of which missed him by a whisker, as per a write-up sent to Parsiana. "By the grace of Ahura Mazda, I have had a miraculous escape. I have had a frightening escape from the jaws of death,” the Afternoon Despatch and Courier of November 18, 2008 quotes the photographer.

Rashid Bamanbehram (inset) and the coconut palm that narrowly missed him

"It all happened in a second,” Bamanbehram explains in his write-up. Fortunately, the navjote party arrived late, five to seven minutes after the incident, and was therefore spared. The sound of the crash brought the priests seated inside the Cama Baug Hall (big otla) running out and attracted curious members of the public who rushed in from the road to see what had happened. As soon as Jehanbux Raimalwala, Cama Baug’s manager was informed about the incident, he hurried to the premises and organized a team of men to chop up the coconut tree and clear it away. This was accomplished in record time and the navjote function went off smoothly, with none of the guests being any the wiser about the close shave, the write-up concludes.