Trio of Padma honorees

Three Zoroastrians are among the 129 recipients of the Government of India’s highest civilian awards announced on Republic Day, January 26, 2012. The Padma awa­rds are given to individuals for their sterling contribution to society and to the nation. Eminent neurologist from Bombay Dr Noshir H. Wadia received the Padma Bhushan for medicine, as did Prof (Dr) Homi K. Bhabha of Harvard University for literature and education, while noted chartered accountant Yezdi H. Malegam was honored with the Padma Shri for his contribution in the field of public affairs.

From left: Dr Noshir Wadia, Prof (Dr) Homi K. Bhabha and Yezdi Malegam

One of the most respected and towering personalities of neurology in India, Wadia is currently director emeritus at the department of neurology of the Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre. The senior doctor has authored Neurological Practice: An Indian Perspective, deemed the standard text on tropical neurology. After obtaining his medical degree from the Grant Medical College and his neurological education at Maida Vale and the London Hospital under Sir Russell Brain, Wadia returned to India to found and head the department of neurology at his alma mater. Recipient of many honors, the doctor has been extended Fellowship of both the Indian National Science Academy and the Indian Academy of Sciences.
Born in Bombay in 1949, Bhabha is the Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of English and American Literature and Language, and Director of the Humanities Center at Harvard University. One of the most important figures in contemporary post-colonial studies, he has coined a number of the field’s neologisms and key concepts, such as hybridity, mimicry, difference, ambivalence. Such terms describe ways in which colonized peoples have resisted the power of the colonizer, according to Bha­bha’s theory.
Currently chair­man of the National Advisory Committee on Accounting Standards, 77-year-old Bombay based Malegam has been president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India from 1979 to 1980, a board member of the Reserve Bank of India since 2000, and chairman emeritus of Messers S. B. Billimoria and Sons, Chartered Accountants where he worked until 2004. A director of the National Stock Exchange of India Limited as well as various leading companies, Malegam is a member of the Indian Institute of Bankers and The Institute of Chartered Accountants — England and Wales.