French knight

Having worked with the French consulate in Karachi for over 30 years, Vera Danesh Dinshaw was conferred the Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite (Knight of the National Order of Merit) by the President of the French Republic, noted a brief write-up in the March 2010 issue of What’s on, the newsletter of the Karachi Zarthosti Banu Mandal. The honor was presented to her at the residence of the Consul General of France, Pierre Seillan, in Karachi on January 30, 2010. "Out of a multitude of recommendations, I was... chosen for this knighthood... in lieu of my distinguished service especially during certain very difficult times... It is indeed a great honor and pleasure to be a Parsi lady holding the title of Chevalier,” Dinshaw conveyed to Parsiana. Her long-standing association with the French consulate, handling a lot of the day-to-day consular tasks as also being the personal assistant of the consul general, had earlier earned Dinshaw the médaille d’argent des affaires étrangères on the recommendation of the French ministry of foreign affairs in August 2008.

Vera Dinshaw: "indeed a great honor”

The Ordre National du Mérite (National Order of Merit) is an Order of State. Founded in 1963 by the then French President Charles de Gaulle, the Order was established for two reasons: to replace the large number of ministerial Orders previously awarded by the ministries; and to create an award that can be conferred more liberally than the Legion of Honour.

Those holding the Chevalier (knight) rank are meant to wear the badge on a ribbon on the left chest. The medal and the plaque of the Order were designed by the French sculptor Max Leognany. The medal bears a six-armed Maltese cross in silver enamelled blue, with laurel leaves between the arms. The obverse central disc features the head of Marianne, surrounded by the legend République Française. The reverse central disc has a set of crossed tricolore, surroun­ded by the name of the Order and its foundation date. The badge is suspended by a laurel wreath, it was explained on Wikipedia.