Changes in Vadodara

Manek D. Modi and Cyrus N. Bhesania were elected unopposed to the board of trustees of the Shree Parsi Panchayat, Vadodara (SPPV), reports Zend, the newsletter of the Panchayat dated March 2013. Modi filled the vacancy caused by the resignation of Percy F. Bharucha who quit for personal reasons on August 31, 2012, and Bhesania after the sudden demise of Dara A. Hakim on November 14, 2012.

Dara Hakim: self-made

Modi, who hails from Rajpipla, studied at Lawrence School, Lovedale, Nilgiris and graduated from M. S. University (BA with economics). He worked in Oman for some years in the building/construction field. On his return to India in 1994 he settled in Vadodara and continued with the same profession. Bhesania attended St Xavier’s School, Ahmedabad and graduated as an electronics engineer from M. S. University in 1975. Settled in Vadodara, he set up his own small scale industrial unit in 1979 to manufacture electrical panel boards, mentions Zend.
A condolence meeting for Hakim was arranged at the Godrej Hall at Hira Baug on December 1, 2012, where the Panchayat’s president Baman R. Cama recalled that once Hakim made up his mind, he would seldom change it. He also acknowledged the many donations the family had made to the Panchayat over the years and extended condolences to Hakim’s wife Roda and daughters Jasmine and Benaz, Zend reports.
Past president Jal Patel described Hakim as a self-made man with a towering personality, full of energy, hard working as well as fun loving. Despite his limited academic qualifications he became the personnel and human resource manager at Jyoti Limited which has over 1,500 employees. Others who spoke were Behroz Elavia who recalled mischievous episodes from Hakim’s school days, Aspi Vazifdar who mentioned his contribution to the Vadodara Panchayat for 18 years, Kamal Patel who read out a message from trustee Firoze Patel, Rumi Mistry who eulogized him in verse, and others. Two minutes’ silence was observed as a mark of respect for the departed souls of Hakim and Pesi Mancherji who for many years had served as editor of Zend, concludes the quarterly.
Roda is a regular letter writer to Parsiana.