Rustom Tirandaz, RIP

It was with great sadness that I learnt of the demise of my friend Rustom Tirandaz in Bombay. It was a shock for me since I had met him just over a month earlier during my annual visit to Bombay. As I usually do, I stopped by at his ground floor home whenever I could see him working on his computer through the window. I also met is charming wife Armaity and chatted for a while about the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) elections and his victory. In fact when I returned to my base in California I was pleasantly surprised to see Tirandaz’s photo on the cover of Parsiana.

I have known Tirandaz for over 50 years. The first time I met him was on the grounds of the J. B. Vachha School which also served as the parade ground for 100th Bombay Homavazir Scout Troop. Even then Tirandaz was a leader. As patrol-leader of the "Tigers,” he stood out as someone who you would not forget in a hurry. Sure, most of us found him to be a little eccentric at times (fellow scouts from that time may have some interesting stories about him), but if you were in trouble and needed his help Tirandaz was never one to turn his back on you.

I lost touch with him for a while after we all grew up and left scouting. He tried his hand at running an electroplating business as well as in exports for a while. But after he became a Corporator at the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC), and a Justice of Peace, I saw him occasionally whenever I needed his signature on something or the other. He was always ready to serve, and if he was at home my work was invariably done. Even when his political chips were down he never lost his sense of humor. I can still picture him on his beat-up Vespa scooter doing the rounds of his ward and getting all the civic duties performed by the BMC employees. That he was a totally honest person goes without saying, and that is why people from all walks of life, from the homeless to the rich sought him out and never went away disappointed. It was therefore not surprising that within minutes of the news of his death a large multi-community crowd of mourners from almost all political parties gathered outside his house to pay their respects.

True to his convictions, he spoke plainly and forcefully on Parsi community issues that he thought were right. It is doubly tragic that just when he could have ably served the community further as a trustee of the BPP, he was taken away from us. The void left by his passing away, both in the Mancherji Joshi Dadar Parsi Colony and the BPP, will be difficult to fill. May his noble soul rest in peace. Dr ARDESHIR B. DAMANIA

Davis, California, USA

abdamania@ucdavis.edu