"The marble statue of our founder had become very old and looked worn out and faded over time. The place where Cama Sir’s statue stands is like a temple and a very sacred place for all of us, the doctors and staff of the hospital… We have to show our due respect to our founder who is akin to God for us. Thus to show respect, we decided to refurbish the statue and ‘re-inaugurate’ the same. It is also an occasion for all of us to rededicate ourselves to the purpose and service of mankind,” Dr Tushar Palve, medical superintendent of Cama and Albess Hospital (officially Pestonjee Cama and Albless Hospital and Jaffer Suleman Dispensary as per their website), told Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustee Adil Malia on January 12, 2023 when queried on why the 137-year-old bust had been re-inaugurated.
Top: Remembering Pestonjee Cama; above: Bombay Parsi Punchayet trustees
with Cama and Albless Hospital officials
Trustees of the BPP had been invited to "re-inaugurate” the statue of Pestonjee Hormasjee Cama (1817-1893) on January 13, 2023. Malia described it as a "lovely experience” to visit a government hospital "so well managed, so well-kept and expressing a deep sense of gratitude to its founder.” BPP chairwoman Armaity Tirandaz garlanded the statue. The other trustees present — Anahita Desai, Xerxes Dastur and Maharukh Noble — lit candles, Malia told us on January 15.
Established in 1886, the 550-bed teaching Hospital is the only one in Maharashtra meant exclusively for women and children that has an oncology wing, as per their website. "Cama gave a donation of one lakh rupees for the development of the Hospital,” it notes. (H. D. Darukhanawala in Parsi Lustre on Indian Soil states a figure of Rs 1,64,311.)
Contemporary corporate buzz concepts like social responsibility were unheard of in the days when Cama retired from his business, noted Malia. "Pestonjee believed in living the classic Zoroastrian values of good thoughts, good words and good deeds.”
Darukhanawala notes that Cama was one of the partners of the first Indian houses of business in the UK established in 1855. Decorated with the Companion of the Indian Empire medal, Cama was "keenly interested in the cause of reform and progress in the Indian community.”
Researcher Marzban Giara noted in Parsi Statues that Cama’s white marble bust rests on a white stand and was sculpted by P. T. Williamson Esher of Surrey, UK in 1886. He wrote that besides setting aside money for the Hospital, Cama also allocated Rs 25,000 for gold medals and awards for proficient women students.
A carbon print of Cama’s image by an unknown photographer published in 1889 is available with the National Portrait Gallery, London. F. J.