Hockey player, sports manager, social worker,
Sheila Irani raised eight children
Farida Irani
One lesson that I learnt from my dear mother-in-law Shireen Ardeshir Irani (popularly known as Sheila) was "You are damned if you do and you are damned if you don’t so you might as well do what you love to do.” That dissolved layers of inhibitions and taught me to be as confident as she was.
She made the most of what life had to offer and besides mothering eight children — four boys: Polad, Sheriar, Marazban, Behram, and four girls: Firoza, Zenobia, Yasmin, Gulrukh — she made time to play hockey, do social work, visit the ailing injured jawans, tend her Kirkee home garden on the outskirts of Poona with pride and joy, while knitting and crocheting beautiful jumpers, blankets, etc for her 18 grandchildren as also family and friends. Sheila would even enter bicycle races. My husband Sheriar has memories of anxiously waiting in the stadium with his siblings and cheering her when she competed.
A well-known hockey player, the day following her demise on March 13, 1997 shortly before her 75th birthday, the Maharashtra Herald described her as "a very fine tough center forward (who) during her time represented the Maharashtra State team at the nationals in the early fifties. She played under the captainship of Zarina Madraswalla and the team had noted stalwarts like Zulema Colaco, Dhun Irani, Gul Irani and Fatima Shaikh.” Subsequently she served the Women’s Hockey Association of Maharashtra (WHAM) in various capacities.
Top: Sheila Irani with Mother Teresa; above, circled with
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (standing 5th from l)and members of the Poona Women’s Council
She made her mark as sports manager, par excellence. With her jovial yet disciplined nature, she managed the Maharashtra senior women’s team at many national championships over the years. It was indeed to her credit that the Maharashtra team won the senior national championship at Calcutta in 1969. She was also the manager of the Indian team at an international match played in Poona. Her role in bringing about an amicable solution between the rival factions that existed in Maharashtra then was considered particularly commendable. Despite her advancing age she would be present for all the hockey matches whether played by women or men.
Her mother Goolbai Muluk Irani was WHAM president in 1958-1959. Goolbai was a long-standing member of the Poona Cantonment Board and was also on the board of the Yerawada Mental Hospital besides several other institutes including the Kirkee maternity home. She enjoyed the distinction of having the Smt Goolbai Muluk Irani Girls High School named after her. She and her husband Muluk were landlords of several properties in and around Kirkee and also owned small flour mills (chakkis).
Like her mother, Sheila too was a very active social worker, associated with the Poona Women’s Council and the Red Cross Society of Poona. She was also a regular visitor to the local Mother Teresa home.
Born in Sukkur in Sindh (now in Pakistan), Sheila grew up with her maternal grandparents Banoobai and Polad Irani in Karachi. Her aunt (mami) Shera Merwan Irani who Sheila revered as her mentor, protector and surrogate mother in Karachi, had also nurtured her as a child.
Top: Goolbai (seated far r) with the Poona Cantonment Board, 1952;
2nd row, from l: great-grandparents Perviz and Merwan Polad (top);
grandparents Banoobai and Polad Irani; parents Goolbai and Muluk Irani;
favorite aunt Shera Irani and Sheila
Top: Sheila with children, grandchildren and family;
above: Sheila and Ardeshir on their golden wedding anniversary in1992
Sheila’s cousin Sam Polad recalled a young Sheila meeting with a bicycle accident in Karachi, hurting her spine badly and requiring a plaster cast around her body for many months. The doctors had advised her not to have children but she married Ardeshir, the love of her life, who worked in the ammunition factory. They jointly raised eight children!
An intrepid traveler, Sheila made optimum use of the complimentary first class ticket she got courtesy her third son Marazban being general manager of the maintenance department with Air India. Among her strengths was punctuality, making sure that she was always ahead of time for any appointment, Sheriar referred to the values inculcated in the family.
She had two younger brothers, Noshir and Homi, both civil engineers. Noshir was associated with many high-rise buildings in Bombay in the 1960s-1970s and was the founder of Associated Breweries and Distilleries, known for its London Pilsner beer. Homi, who had settled in Gulbarga, Karnataka had built many bridges, hospitals and a theater named Tirandaz Talkies. He was very involved with the Home Guards. All three siblings loved playing practical jokes on each other, family and friends. Their father Muluk was a Persian scholar who had completed his Master’s degree in Persian from Deccan College.
Their maternal grandfather Polad along with his parents Merwan and Perviz had reportedly fled the Qajar dynasty in Iran on foot in 1878-1880 and via Baluchistan reached Karachi where they were helped by the local Parsis. Merwan became the gardener of an agiary in Karachi. Polad studied under streetlights and became the first Indian officer of the Imperial Bank and eventually had Britishers working under him.
Sheila’s father-in-law Rustom Baba who hailed from Taft in Yazd had come by ship from Iran. On settling in Kirkee he started a cafe. Knowledgeable about medicinal herbs, he treated many people free of charge.
Connected to a hardy stock of strong Irani Zarathushti men and women who had made a name for themselves through hard work, perseverance and commitment to the path of Asha, if anyone asked Sheila if she was Parsi or Irani she would respond "baapé daadé Irani (Irani by lineage).”