Dr Tehemton Udwadia (pictured) was honored with the Padma Bhushan, the sole Zoroastrian to feature in this year’s civilian awards list which is announced annually on Republic Day, January 26. The 82-year-old gastrointestinal surgeon is credited with introducing laparoscopic surgery in the country in 1972 and being the first to perform laparoscopic cholecystectomy (removal of the gallbladder) in the developing world in 1990. Udwadia received Padma Shri in 2006 for his contributions to Indian medicine, as 
well as the Dr B. C. Roy National Award, the highest Indian award in the field of medicine, from the Medical Council of India (MCI) in 2000. He has received the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) from Queen Elizabeth II and honorary fellowship by the American College of Surgeons, reads his bio data.
"It is a proud moment not only for him, but all the Indian surgeons. He has been a guiding force for all of us in the last 30 years. Not just technological advice, but Udwadia sir has been giving philosophical and psychological support to us. He is the founder president of the Indian Association of Gastrointestinal Endo-Surgeons too,” shared Dr Avinash Supe, dean of K. E. M. Hospital, Bombay, and a surgical gastroenterologist, with the mymedicalmantra website.
Currently emeritus professor of Surgery at Grant Medical College and J. J. Hospital and practicing as a general and laparoscopic surgeon at the Breach Candy, B. D. Petit Parsee General and Hinduja Hospitals in Bombay, Udwadia is also chairman of ceMAST, a center that trains surgeons in minimal invasive surgery countrywide, with special stress on small towns, Udwadia told Parsiana (see "By surgeons for surgeons,” Events and Personalities, January 7, 2017).
In an email to Parsiana, the doctor has credited his success to important "factors which have influenced my life. My wife Khorshed, who has been my support system for over 68 years, first as a friend and for 58 years as a wife. My parents: my mother Perin who instilled discipline and my father Erach who was and is my hero and role model. My teachers who were far the best any indifferent, troublesome student could ever hope to have.” The Udwadias have three children, Rushad, a surgeon based in Vancouver, Dinaz, a Cordon Bleu chef settled in Los Angeles and Ashad, an orthopedic surgeon in Manchester, UK. While in college, Udwadia participated in athletics, cricket, boxing and debates. Later, he was a member of the Bombay Flying Club and on the golf team of the Willingdon Sports Club.
In the military honors list, another Zoroastrian, Brig Zubin Minwalla (pictured) of the 9 Gorkha Rifles, serving on the Line of Control between Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan, was conferred the Yudh Seva Medal for gallantry on Republic Day this year.