Tribute to Tehmurasp Dastur

Ever since Peter Reay, director of personnel and of Cadbury’s Staff College at the Beeches in Birmingham, took me by the hand and led me to the dais to laud my "knowledge of the English language” and my contribution to the 15-day conference held there in June 1974, I have been debating about writing on this topic.

At that moment I reflected deeply that my two siblings’ and my contemporary knowledge of English was due entirely to our father, Tehmurasp N. Dastur (pictured). He was a Sir Cowasji Jehangir scholar in English and Sir Hormusji Cowasji Dinshaw scholar in Avesta-Pahlavi at Bombay’s Wilson College, from where he had obtained his Master of Arts (MA) (Honors) degree in 1915, winning two gold medals. My dad was a wizard in both English and Avesta-Pahlavi.

At that time, Bombay University’s jurisdiction extended from the north of Madras Presidency to the whole of Sind. Only 18 boys and one girl appeared for the MA examination in 1915.

In those days students studying for the MA degree had to have basic knowledge of Old English, Middle English, Greek and Latin so that they could unearth the meaning of nearly every word. My co-students Rama and Raja Rao and I would choose difficult words from the Oxford English Dictionary and ask my dad their meaning, a game that went on for two years. Other than "numismatist,” he could tell us the meaning of every word!

Students appearing for the Matric examination would ask him to recount a Shakespearean play. He would give them the option of selecting any one of the 38 the Bard had written. For 45 minutes my dad would rattle off any play that had been chosen. Marvelous! Unheard of even in England!

My dad was an authority on William Shakespeare, Francis Bacon and John Milton. He could have been the literary critic for any leading newspaper, but he wasn’t. Nor did he write any book on the nuances of the language or on his three favorite English authors.

He died of a second heart attack on December 23, 1953, aged 58. The sun had set on Deolali’s prodigy forever.

B. T. DASTUR

dasturbehram@gmail.com