Two Ahmedabad residents who died within barely a fortnight of each other "had a common thread — service to humanity,” noted Ahmedabad Parsi Panchayat (APP) joint secretary Cyrus Sabawala at an online condolence meeting organized by the APP on July 28, 2021. Ex APP senior trustee Navroze Kanga passed away on June 28, and educationist and member of the APP managing committee Armaity Shroff on July 10.
Armaity Shroff (l); Navroze Kanga
Sabawala reminded the audience of the "charismatic Kanga” who since 1978 served the APP as a committee member, joint secretary and then as trustee. Tributes were paid to Shroff who reportedly devoted 50 years of her life to teaching, having "prepared over 100 papers” for the visually impaired in English, Hindi and Gujarati to ease their studies. She was also an avid mountaineer.
APP trustee Katy Daruwala stated that Kanga had the habit of "baddha né potika kari dévana (to treat everyone as his own)” and recalled Shroff’s assistance in proof reading the last edition of the APP telephone directory. Businessman Piruz Khambatta shared memories of Kanga’s attempts at matchmaking for him. In his concluding remarks, APP joint secretary Firoze Davar reiterated the qualities of Kanga and Shroff that endeared them to the community.
Shirin Kanga, Navroze’s wife and APP trustee, who sent Parsiana a recording of the meeting, mentioned that the APP office bearers attempted to bring in as many representatives, as possible, of different trusts in Ahmedabad, to speak at the condolence meeting. She specifically acknowledged the technical assistance provided by Hoshedar Deboo at the event.