Readers' Forum
Goolshan Jal, RIP
Goolshan Naval Jal passed away peacefully on November 17, 2012 at the Dina Hotel where she had been residing for the last 27 years with her husband Naval. He passed away on May 31, 2012. Originally from Bombay, after marriage she spent 25 years in the little African paradise called Malawi, often referred to as the "Switzerland of Africa.” Their three children — Rohin, Anita and Eric — were born and brought up in Malawi, where only a handful of Parsi families lived at that time. Lifelong friendships were forged with them and many others, including Hindus, Gujaratis, Sindhis, Punjabis, Sikhs, Mangaloreans, Goans, Muslims, English, Americans and Scandinavians. It was like how a "United Nations” could and should be run, in peace and harmony. In fact, after her passing, in spite of the fact that many of these people had not seen her for over 35 years, tributes have poured in from all over the world where the "expatriate” Malawians are now living for their Guluben, as she was affectionately known. Several of them still remember being taught English by her in a Gujarati school that operated in Malawi.After spending some years in England, primarily to be with the children who were then completing their higher education, she and Naval "retired” to India and came to the Dina Hotel in Mahabaleshwar to help me, their nephew, run the hotel after the unfortunate passing of my dad Firoze in 1985. Here too Gulu Aunty endeared herself to people from all over the world by welcoming hotel guests and mingling with them. She would happily spend time conversing with them in her natural, smiling and friendly manner, whether in the dining room, seated on her swing-chair or walking around the hotel gardens.
She now rests alongside her husband Naval in Mahabaleshwar’s aramgah. She will be missed by many, but most of all by her children Rohin in London, Anita in Poona and Eric in Melbourne, as well as by her daughters-in-law Kathryn and Freni (who was also born and brought up in Malawi), her grandchildren Conan, Kirstie, Feroze and Cyrus. My wife Shobha and I along with our children Niloufer and Jehangir will miss her sorely.
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