Veera Wadia, 80, stepped out of her residence on the morning of July 20, 2024 to make her daily round of purchases from the nearby Bhaji Gully opposite Grant Road station. CCTV tapes show her stepping carefully off the recently concreted road to enter a bakery located on the ground floor when a portion of the upper balcony of the dilapidated Rubinissa Building structure collapsed. A video shows her ducking to avoid the debris that began to fall. It was around 10.30 a.m.
She was extricated by the fire brigade "using manual and hydraulic tools,” and taken to the nearby Bhatia Hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival. Four passersby were also injured, reported The Times of India (ToI) on July 21. Wadia was the only fatality.
Veera Wadia: ever helpful
Photo: Shiraz Kotwal
Though notices and warnings had been issued to the residents by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority and by the Bombay Municipal Corporation in 2023, several tenants had remained in the nearly century old building on Sleater Road (now Naushir Bharucha Marg), according to The Indian Express (IE) of June 21. The residents stayed despite the risk, reportedly having no other place to go.
"We rescued about 37 people from different floors... As portions of the building, including the staircase, had collapsed, residents could not come down... We used the turntable (ladders) atop fire engines,” a fire brigade official told ToI.
Wadia, a former stenographer in the zonal office of Syndicate Bank, was unmarried and lived alone in Hormuzd Building further down the street from the four-storey structure that collapsed. She was very active and helpful to all. "A council member of the Indian National Kennel Club (INKC), she was a regular volunteer at our dog shows,” wrote Phiroze Javeri, INKC president, in a social media tribute. He and his wife Ratty were close family friends as Phiroze was a classmate of Kersi Wadia, Veera’s brother, at St Mary’s School.
Veera was a trustee of the Avabai Ardeshir Kharshetji Wadia (Idawalla) Agiary at Dhobitalao, her late father Noshir having been adopted by Motlibai Wadia, the benefactor who rebuilt the Iranshah Atash Behram structure in Udvada. Her mother Mani, who was widowed young, taught at a school for the hearing impaired at Mazgaon. Veera travelled by chartered bus to fire temples outside Bombay, and would regularly attend their salgirah jashans.
Collapsed Rubinissa Building
She was knowledgable about Bollywood and screen personalities, especially those of an earlier era, having had a long personal association with late actress Parveen Babi whom she greatly admired. An avid fan of non-fiction, she read every afternoon despite her compromised vision. Friends thought of her as a "human GPS,” impressed with her knowledge of the name and location of every building on almost every road in South Bombay and even in some of the suburbs. Until the last she often used buses and local trains for transportation.
With her brightly colored dresses and floral design bags, she was a familiar figure in her neighborhood.
Those who knew Veera recall her as "smiling, gregarious, helpful” and as "one who loved life.” One neighbor recalls seeing her as a tough, young girl riding her bicycle every morning. She was always bubbling with enthusiasm, game to try any new activity.
Kersi told the Hindustan Times (HT) of July 27 that three people claiming ownership of Veera’s flat locked it up hours after she died. "We had planned to light a diva… but when we reached her door… two new locks were in place.” There was a note pasted to the door saying the flat belongs to (names of the three), and trespassers would be prosecuted. The family went to the Gamdevi police station where they were told that "it is a civil matter,” Kersi’s son-in-law Firdosh Kotwal told HT.
On July 23, Kersi received a letter from the landlords stating: "Veera Wadia was living alone since the last several decades and… we have taken back possession… of the premises” and that he could collect her belongings from the flat after proving he is her only legal heir, reported HT. The family responded by sending a legal notice to the claimants on July 25 and filing a complaint at the Gamdevi police station. An inspector from the police station informed HT, "An enquiry will be conducted into the complaint, where both sides will be asked to furnish their statements and proofs. If there is a criminal aspect, we will file a FIR (first information report).”
Sherene Vakil