Sketching and drawing were Hafeez Contractor’s interests, not school text books
Harshad Bhatia
The following extract from Becoming Hafeez Contractor: The Making of an Architect by Harshad Bhatia has been reprinted here with permission from HarperCollins Publishers.
His father Sorabe Contractor passed away at a young age, just a fortnight or so before he was born. His mother, Roshan, then 19, decided to complete her college education and take up teaching. Their only child, born in 1950, was named Hafeez, meaning custodian, protector or keeper.
Hafeez spent his toddler years in his maternal grandparents’ hometown of Navsari. He then schooled for two years at a Gujarati medium institution run by the Tatas.
It is in......