“Lala, the leveler”

I read with nostalgia the various tributes paid to Rusi Lala, including "Lala, the leveler” (In Memoriam, Parsiana, February 7, 2013) and my mind goes back in time. I was born and grew up in Bombay, and Lala, a friend of my brother Erach Cooper, was a frequent visitor to our home.

Rusi Lala: far ahead of his times

On one such visit we were discussing the tragic plane crash which had occurred. At that time a recently published book, Lost Horizons by James Hilton, was very popular. I was 14 years old and remember asking Lala to write in my autograph album. This is what he wrote:
"You hoped today that the passengers of the Malabar Princess which crashed in the Alps might be alive to find a Lost Horizon. Each one of us has his or her own Lost Horizon. The victims of the crash may not reach the Lost Horizon but perhaps you, Freny might!” He signed it R. M. Lala, and it was dated November 5, 1950.
This is my tribute to a person whose ideas were so far ahead of our times.
FRENY K. CHOKSY
Colombo, Sri Lanka