I was very impressed with Rusi Sorabji’s article on Simla Parsis ("Settlers in Simla — I,” Parsiana, August 7-20, 2019). My family, the Masters, were originally from Simla, and my grandfather, Jal Masters, was a great sportsman who played hockey on ice and cricket for the Army Headquarters teams as mentioned in the article.
Clockwise from above right: Jehangir Masters (far r) cycling with cousins;
Jal Masters in his Simla office; Nargish, Tehmina, Lily and Jehangir Masters
His sister and brother-in-law, Dosibai and Dinshaw Framjee ran a hotel in Simla and were official caterers to the Viceroy. Large-hearted and welcoming by nature, they were local guardians to many Parsi boarders at Bishop Cotton School. One such boarder was Jamsheed Patel, father of my good friend Rubina Patel, originally from Karachi, now resident of Washington DC. We can safely assume that our fathers knew each other too, given the size of our community — truly, the world is a small place!
I was amused to read the bit about Rusi having to buy a whole pile of jalebies as compensation merely because my aunt Jeroo had touched one of them. Those are the punches that add flavor to the article and are a throwback to the good old days.
My father Jehangir had celebrated the news of my birth by taking his friend Naval Billimoria to Delhi’s popular (Old) Coffee House. I did not know that his wife was the famous Ms Billimoria of Mama School, Karachi. I have been to Pakistan a few times on work and in 2005 my husband Behram and I were there on an official/personal visit when we visited the Mama School. If only I had known this then!
The connections in our community run so deep and this article evoked nostalgia for the good old days!
ZENOBIA (MASTERS) PANTHAKI
Falls Church, Virginia, USA
zmasters1@gmail.comI read Vispi Balaporia’s letter ("Settlers in Simla - I,” Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, September 7-20, 2019) in which she has pointed out that her father had been secretary to Dr Rajagopalachari and not Lord Mountbatten.
Many years later, Adm Rustom K. Ghandhi was governor of Himachal Pradesh and lived in Simla at that time. As a young naval officer, Ghandhi had been an aide-de-camp to Mountbatten. These events were many years apart, but may explain any lapse in memory.
BURZOE K. GHANDHI
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
plibber2000@yahoo.com