The Padma awards triad

One distinguished Zoroastrian featured in each of the three categories of the Padma awards declared by the Government of India on the nation’s 61st Republic Day, January 26, 2011. Each one of the triad has already found a place in the country’s firmament for outstanding contribution in his/her field — Homai Vyarawalla, India’s pioneering photojournalist, the late Dr Keki Grant for his service in the medical field and renowned puppeteer Dadi Pudumjee, for his sterling contribution to the arts at home and abroad. Each one is a recipient of numerous awards and has received ample public acclaim.

Padma awardees (from left): Homai Vyarawalla, late Dr Keki Grant and Dadi Pudumjee

Winner of the Padma Vibhushan for "exceptional and distinguished service” is 97-year-old Vyarawalla, whose achievements have been immortalized in a book, India in Focus: Camera Chronicles of Homai Vyarawalla written by Sabeena Gadihoke. Vyarawalla is a resident of Baroda where she lives alone without any domestic help and drives a Nano presented to her by Tata Motors. Posthumously receiving the Padma Bhushan for "distinguished service of high order,” Grant, the founder and chairman of Poona’s Ruby Hall Clinic passed away in that city just three weeks earlier on January 3 at the age of 90. Delhi based Pudumjee, winner of the Padma Shri for "distinguished service in any field” founded the Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust and is currently president of Union Internationale de la Marionnette, the only Asian to have been elected to this post.