Helping hands

People go for weekend holidays to escape the daily grind and stress of city life and come back rejuvenated. But such a holiday backfired on my brother Percy Pastakia when he set off with his friends for a short sojourn to Davier’s Dubash Sanatorium on January 14, 2010. He suffered a sudden pain in his chest and was shifted to Mamta Hospital in Umer-gaon for a check-up where he breathed his last.

When I was informed over the telephone about my brother’s sudden demise I contacted Marazban Wadia, president of the Davier Parsee Zarthosti Anjuman Fund. We were in a state of shock, in a strange place, wondering what to do. Wadia informed his brothers Hoshang and Jimmy who immediately came to our help.

Innumerable formalities had to be taken care of. Due to Hoshang’s efforts we managed to get the death certificate, police certificate, gram panchayat certificate and no objection certificate from the municipality in record time and without having to grease any palms. Finally, he arranged for an ambulance to take the body to Bombay.

There are still some fine human beings like Hoshang, his father Eruchshaw and members of their family who put themselves out to alleviate the sufferings of others during difficult times. I thank them for their unstinted help. Besides friends and relatives in Bombay, I am grateful to the authorities in Davier and Umergaon, the Dubash Sanatorium and Umergaon police station, gram panchayat and Dr Modi of Mamta Hospital.

PERVEZ J. PASTAKIA