A few months before she passed away on May 18, 2024, 86-year-old Perin Irani, a former tour guide, was selected by The Free Press Journal (FPJ), in collaboration with the Maharashtra Department of Tourism, to be honored as an Angel of Tourism, one of 10 individuals felicitated for their contribution to tourism in the state. These 10 tour guides were honored for reviving unknown destinations, making sustainable tourism attractive and for showing tourists the lesser known places and cultures within Maharashtra.
Irani was also a creative window and venue decorator, artist, cook and scrabble champion. Warm, loving, full of fun, she was an entertaining raconteur, recall her myriad friends.
Perin Irani (center) with (from l) Diana and Naval Gamadia
Tributes poured in from former colleagues in the industry. Jerroo Bharrucha, president of the Mumbai Tour Guides Association, recalled that "Perin would do inbound tourism for six months… For the other six months she escorted Indians to foreign countries. She was beautiful to look at with a lovely heart, warm smile and hearty laugh.”
"Her most endearing quality was her humble down-to-earth attitude in spite of all her talents and accomplishments. In the four decades of my association with her, never did I hear a harsh word from her nor see her angry. She was always calm, witty, jolly and ever smiling,” expressed Mashanta Romani, formerly with the International Industry and Trade Organisation. Another colleague, Sancia Sequeira, in her social media tribute, wrote: "Perin could regale the most staid audience with a dramatization of her real life situations (some disastrous) which were worthy of an Oscar. That was another talent, and I was not off the mark when I reminded her that Sophia Loren resembled her quite closely! In her self-effacing and good-natured way she would shrug off that compliment. Her grace, wit and charm endeared her to all who interacted with her within the tourism industry and beyond.”
Perin’s grandson, Naval Gamadia, a businessman in the field of media, who had been living with her since 2016, told Parsiana that she started her career as an artist, moving to show windows in the 1990s and transitioning into high end weddings by the early 2002s. "It’s a family run business, and my younger sister Diana has now joined my parents Nazneen and Faridoon. Diana was greatly inspired by Perin and received valuable guidance from her. Perin was empanelled with all the five star hotels and even did the decorations for outstation weddings in India and abroad at a time when this was extremely rare.”
The moving life-size models of Santa Clauses playing musical instruments that adorned the entrance of Hotel Marine Plaza on Marine Drive were unique and greatly appreciated. Naval said "the props were either purchased or specially fabricated by my grandmother. She would purchase the materials used both locally and from places like Thailand, China and even Africa, depending on the theme of the decorations.
"Living with my grandmother was fantastic. I’m very grateful for her hospitality and the values and empathy she taught me. She would give me my privacy and would love having my friends over as the house would feel full of life. She had amazing social skills. In an age without internet she had multiple friends around the world who were continuously in touch, visiting, telephoning and planning several trips with her.”
Perin started her career with the tourism department in 1970 as a guide and lecturer on tours curated for government dignitaries and royalty from around the world. She was deputed on cruises coming into India, noted the FPJ. Fluent in French, Italian, Japanese and Spanish, she guided tours for the Shah of Iran, the Emperor of Ethiopia, the King of Afghanistan, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and family, Monsignors from the Vatican and several other VIPs (very important people), reads her curriculum vitae. She was also official interpreter with the Somani industrial group for their foreign collaborations.
In her first year, Perin won a Rotary award for best guide. "It was the most fruitful career,” she said at the award ceremony held on the Rooftop of FPJ House on February 16 this year. "I travelled around the world for tours organized by SOTC travel company and also led several outstation tours in India and Nepal, through the government of India’s tourist office.”
Perin’s parents, Thrity and Sohrab Khambatta both qualified as dentists from the Sorbonne in France, though her mother did not practice. Thrity was the daughter of Dastur (Dr) Maneckji Dhalla of Karachi, a respected scholar who wrote books on the religion and is considered an authority on Zoroastrianism. Perin’s late husband Dhun, a marine engineer and ship surveyor, was a senior official with Mazagon Docks.
Perin is survived by her daughter Nazneen Gamadia and son Farhad. Her family has planted a tree in Udvada in her memory. Sherene Vakil