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"The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”
This motto was followed throughout her life by Zarine Chothia who was the epitome of kindness and culture and accomplished every task with a quiet sense of devotion. Born on June 8, 1932, and raised in an affluent family, Chothia catered to the needs of the poor. Procuring a degree as a fine arts student in the USA, she returned to Bombay in the year 1950.
Her journey as a social worker started at 20. She offered her services at the Orthopedic Hospital at Haji Ali. Her devotion relieved the burden on the overworked nurses.
Weekend outings with the family to her bungalow were mixed with fun and work. A glass of milk was provided to the children of fisherfolks in the village, and toys were distributed. Christmas was always celebrated with the fisherfolks. She once arranged for surgery for a fisherwoman born without a nose.
For the handicapped children who came from an economically deprived background, she started a mela (funfair) in her backyard. She understood the needs of these children who had never experienced such a day full of fun and games. The mela later moved to larger grounds and became an annual feature for nearly 2,000 handicapped children from all over Bombay, an experience that they looked forward to each year.
Chothia was instrumental in starting a clinic for women’s ailments at the BDD (Bombay Development Department) chawls at Worli. She felt that there were a number of clinics to take care of the little children, but their mothers’ health was neglected. She also arranged for free medical camps for four days each year at Dharavi where patients were treated and surgeries performed.
The ‘garden sales’ she organized, helped raise funds to buy clothes for new born babies at the Wadia Maternity Hospital. When she was informed that babies at the Hospital contracted jaundice, a photo-therapy machine was donated to control the situation.
The cause closest to her heart was the Society for the Education of the Challenged (SEC) that runs a school to educate disadvantaged, handicapped children. She encouraged the children to create various articles such as hand bags, paper bags, greeting cards, trays, coasters, mini laptop tables, which provided income not only to the ex-students of the school, but also supplemented income for the institution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being a connoisseur of art, some years ago Chothia noticed that a boy without arms studying at SEC was a potential artist who could paint with his feet. She appointed an art teacher for the lad who soon blossomed into a talented artist. Soon many more boys joined the art classes which were held at the school.  The boys produced one marvel after  another.
In 2010 SEC presented its first art exhibition by ex-students "From Shadows to Limelight”  at the Jehangir Art Gallery. Every work was sold. The confidence that the students gained went a long way to enable them and their families to earn a livelihood with dignity and respect. Youngsters opened their own bank accounts, supplemented their family income, and some became the main providers for their families. Many of them bought laptops with the earnings. Their morale boosted, in 2013, 80 of their pieces were exhibited in "Living Their Dreams,” once again at the Jehangir Art Gallery.
Chothia also gave her services to the Bombay Parsi Punchayet run F. S. Parukh Dharamshalla that houses nearly 100 aged Zoroastrians, providing them with food, clothing and medical facilities. Her love, care and dedication to the seniors was incomparable. On October 1, 2018, she had planned a Senior Citizens’ Day celebration at the Dharamshalla. But when the residents came to know that she was in the intensive care unit breathing her last, they cancelled the celebrations, and prayed a humbundagi Tandorasti for her. She died in the early hours of October 2, 2018.
Serving unstintingly till the end, she would inquire about the elderly at the Dharamshalla and the children at SEC. She will be missed by thousands whose lives she had touched with her selfless work, devotion and by generating new ideas to the institutions she assisted for so many years.
The Dalai Lama has rightly said, "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”
Chothia was supported by her late husband Dickey in all her endeavors. She leaves behind  her three children Gooloo Khambatta, Sherna Vazifdar and Nari.