“Settlers in Simla - I”
I was born in Simla in 1941 during the British Raj. We used to spend six months in Simla as it was the summer capital of the country. Naturally I read with great interest the article "Settlers in Simla – I” by Rusi Sorabji (Parsiana, August 7, 2019), and was happy to find a reference to my family. However, I would like to set right some facts.
My parents’ names are Shavax and Coomi Lal. They had three, not two daughters, me being the youngest and (therefore?) omitted. Naturally, I am upset at being left out. My eldest sister, Shirin, has been living in Birmingham (not London) since 1969. Her husband, Keki Panthaki, an actuary, worked for Guest, Keen and Nettlefold. My second sister Nargis with husband Pheroze Kharas lives in Bombay, surrounded by their daughters and grandchildren. I, too, live in Bombay, and have been a lecturer in English throughout an extended teaching career.
When India became independent, my father was invited by the first Indian Governor General Dr Rajagopalachari to join him as secretary, as he was in the Law Department in the Government. When India became a republic in 1950, my father continued as secretary to the first President Dr Rajendra Prasad. He was not secretary to Lord Mountbatten. After he retired from Government service, we moved to Bombay and lived on Pedder Road. VISPI RUSS BALAPORIA
russbee@gmail.com
Rusi Sorabji responds:
My first visit to Simla and the Lals was in 1940, the year my account about Parsis in Simla begins (I am a nonagenarian now). Ms Balaporia writes that she was born in 1941, so there were only two sisters in 1940. Even in 2019, our common friend Yezad Kapadia did not mention that there was a third Lal sister, so I was unaware.
My family’s last visit to the Lals at their Pedder Road residence was in 1968, when we met only the parents. If I referred to her father Shavaxshah instead of Shavak, it was no mistake. I was being respectful. I thank Ms Balaporia for pointing out that her father was not secretary to Lord Mountbatten, as I had written, but to India’s first Governor General C. Rajagopalachari and president Rajendra Prasad.
The editors reply:
Our apologies for the omission. Rusi Sorabji is a veritable mine of information on the Parsis in North India. There are several references to people and places and it is not always possible for him or us to verify all the material.
He probably has to rely on his memory more than anything else. We are exceedingly grateful to him, as are our readers, for providing us a chronicle of the times gone by. Sadly, so few do so.