When the Empress Mills founded by industrialist and philanthropist Jamsetji Tata in Nagpur closed down in the early 2000s, there were many claimants to the arresting bronze statue of the patriarch that stood on its premises. The business house that had purchased much of the land on which the Mills stood, claimed it as theirs. But the effigy now firmly stands on the grounds of the New Annex Building of the J. N. Tata Parsi Girls High School and Junior College. Efforts made by Navroze Daver, ex managing director of the State Handloom Corporation and Edul Bhagwagar, erstwhile president of Shree Nagpur and Kamptee Parsi Zarthosti Anjuman (since renamed Nagpur Parsi Panchayat) and others impressed on the then state minister for textiles Satish Chaturvedi that there would be no better place for the statue of Tata than the grounds of the school bearing his name. Researcher Marzban Giara notes in Parsi Statues that the bronze likeness of Tata was unveiled in 1959 at the Empress Mills, and the employees had contributed Rs 15,000 towards its cost.
From l: Thrity Patel, Shanoor Mirza (in background), Aspi Bapuna,
Ervad Percy Panthaki, Edul Bhagwagar: honoring Jamsetji Tata
The statue was garlanded on March 3, 2019, the 180th birth anniversary of Tata by the School principal Shanoor Mirza. A jashan was performed in Mirza’s office by Ervads Percy Panthaki and Homiar Godha. Ninety-nine-year-old Jamshedji Cassad, the seniormost member of the community in the city, and former priest of the Hirabai Mulla Dar-e-Meher in Nagpur, Sohrabji Bharucha were present for the ceremony as were the educational institutions’ managing trustee Thrity Patel, managing committee members Bhagwagar and Aspi Bapuna, along with past and present teachers, students, ex-students and well-wishers of the institution. The statue is garlanded on each birth anniversary of the Tata empire founder.
A choir of very young students sang Asho Zarthost Paigambar, which was followed by a mini play Avo Jamsetji kyan chhe? (Where can one find a Jamsetji like him?), about the landmark achievements in the patriarch’s life. A dance by students emphasizing communal harmony brought the curtain down on the day.