Lion hearted

It is not only the Bombay Parsi Punchayet elections that see acts of delinquency. In the August 2014 issue of the Lions Club of Byculla publication The Den, newly elected president Shahrukh Marolia relates the difficulties the Club’s eight representatives faced while voting in Jaipur for an international director of the worldwide organization.

"We were eight Byculla Lions travelling in Oswal Express from Kurla to Jaipur and back — a train sponsored by Lion Aruna Oswal, a candidate for the post of international director,” writes Marolia. "At sharp 2 p.m. the Oswal Express puffed out of the Kurla Terminus with Percy Buharivala, Sorab Bulsara, Tehmasp Munshi, late Shabbir Babrawala, Aliakbar Changi, Huned Rangwalla, Farkhruddin Motiwala and yours truly… along with around 1,500 Lions from other clubs in our district...
When they reached the venue, "There were around 6,000 Lions waiting just to get into the hall, leave alone the voting site. Finally we eight… held our hands together and managed to get in the hall… The next hurdle was to register ourselves for voting. There was no queue and might was right. Lions had turned to hooliganism. Ladies too were not spared. It was a… stampede. Organizers wearing badges were just smiling at the chaos,” recalls Marolia.