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"The response I got showed that I had fulfilled my people’s expectations.” Trouncing her nearest Bharatiya Janata Party rival by a margin of 6,557 votes Congress (I) candidate Anahita Rusi Mehta’s name appeared third in the list of "Biggest victory margins” featured by The Times of India of February 3, 2007, two days after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election of 2007. Presently the only Parsi municipal councilor on the BMC, Mehta, winning 10,232 votes, was reelected  to the Ward 210 (Navjivan Society, Grant Road) seat which this time too was reserved for a lady candidate. "Jé Khodai ni marji (God’s will be done),” she says.

There were 12 candidates contesting the Ward 210 seat of whom five, including Mehta, had earned a four star rating by AGNI and ADR, the agencies which had brought to light the credentials of the candidates based on five parameters: criminal background, transparency of financial disclosure, education, source of income/livelihood and annual income, record of public service. The biggest factor though in Anahita’s favor was that she was the scion of slain councilor Rusi Mehta who had served five terms in the BMC. On his demise his son Noshir accepted the challenge for three terms after which Anahita felt obliged to continue with the family’s commitment when their ward seat was first reserved for ladies in 2002. With Anahita’s reelection in 2007, the Mehta family will complete 50 uninterrupted years of service in the BMC. A golden cutout of the digits "50” with Rusi Mehta’s photo stuck in the center of "0” rested against one wall of Anahita’s modest office in the Rusi Mehta Compound. At another corner stood a cutout of Indira Gandhi with Sonia Gandhi’s photo stuck on the palm symbol adopted by the Congress (I) party.  

Pleased with the progress she was able to make for her ward, Anahita says, "I got a lot of things done. Eighty percent of the major infra­structural work” was undertaken with the budget sanction she was able to obtain. Many of the storm water drainage pipes and main sewerage lines which had been laid during the British rule had to be repaired or replaced. Previously with heavy rains there would be flooding for one or two days. "But this time the drainage and garbage overflow was in control. After the high tide, the water level would recede so the condition was not aggravated compelling people to stay indoors for one or two days.” The laying of new water mains helped improve the water supply and contamination problems and the construction of Sulabh Shauchalayas (public toilets) paved the way for cleaner roads. Urgent repair of dilapidated buildings, improvement of common house gullies, asphalting of roads and lanes, door-to-door collection of garbage, development of a play garden at Pavwala Compound, Khetwadi and repair of faulty electrical wiring were some of the areas she focused on during her first tenure, as mentions her manifesto. Being on the public health committee she was able to get her deserving members free or con­­-cessional medical facilities like angiography at hospitals which fall within the municipal purview.

Besides using her powers at the Corporation in the interests of her ward members Anahita also tries to get them help from other organizations with which she is connected. The Mehta family run Firuzgar Trust gives freeship and scholarship to the poor, needy and deserving school students. The Rusi Mehta Trust assists the poor with medical treatment, operations and medicine. The Rusi Mehta Welfare Centre runs a 24-hour free ambulance service (Tel:23065056/9867387164), organizes free eye and medical check-up camps, and distributes uniforms and stationery to economically backward people.

When Parsiana went to interview her, the vigilant corporator had sought intervention from BMC officials in connection with a new builder on a neighboring street who was flouting land regulations instead of working within the prescribed limits. "If you are not going to do your work…we will make you work,” she would like to send a message across to those who do not take their responsibilities seriously. Being a lady councilor she is not at any disadvantage, she observes. A representative should be educated and well versed with the problems of his/her ward.  "Before you speak up, you should study the Act and know the rules. Then they sit up and listen to you” at Corporation and committee meetings. 

The demands on a corporator differ from day to day. Some days are particularly hectic and others are easy. "Chaalyaa karé (the workload can be handled),” says 36-year-old Anahita as she gains in confidence to tackle the problems of her area although she still does depend on the guidance of brother Noshir and support of husband Izhar. On the domestic front, her seven-year-old son Jaser is her prime responsibility after the passing away of her mother-in-law but she says she manages with the help of a maid. Expecting her second baby in May this year she does not feel her work will suffer although she may need to absent herself from some Corporation meetings.

Formation of a senior citizens’ committee, organizing mahila mandals in chawls and societies, recreation grounds for children, propagating TB and HIV-AIDS programs, starting of civic centers, easing traffic congestion and beautification of the area, supporting the tenants’ cause in the Rent Act are but a few of  the 58 points listed by Anahita under "Future commitments” whilst she simultaneously addresses the basic water and drainage problems.

As member of the Congress (I) party, she is expected to work in conjunction with the 70 other Congress (I) councilors elected on the 227-member BMC where the Shiv Sena is presently in power. "On basic issues facing the Corporation there is a consensus. But when we need to fight we do so…stage a walkout,” she relates.

The affairs of the Parsi community was a subject Anahita had shied away from at the time of the last interview in 2002 saying brother Dinshaw (a trustee of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet) is better qualified to comment on it. After five years she seemed keen to express herself: "They have to stay united… Come on one platform and resolve problems, not fight each other.” If someone has erred, let the person acknowledge it, "Sorry, I have made a mistake.” Strongly in favor of continuing with one’s "culture and heritage,” she feels cremation is not the answer to the present problems at Doongerwadi in the absence of vultures. "It is an environmental problem. Resolve it. Don’t throw away the reet-reevaj (customary ceremonies).” 

Since she is married to a Muslim would she consider initiating her son into the Zoroastrian faith? "Does the community give me an option?” she counter-questions happily reporting that her family is a "mini India. We celebrate all Parsi, Hindu, Muslim and Christian festivals.” With Dinshaw married to a Parsi, Pheroze to an English lady, Noshir to a Hindu, Anahita and younger sister Pari to Muslims, they have an amalgam of faiths. Yet she believes in respecting the laws of the community trusts recalling that when she married outside the faith she surrendered her Godrej Baug flat when Dinshaw demanded "Pèhlé chaavi aap (first return the keys to me).” The subsequent allotment of this same flat which created a major fracas in the community with four trustees resigning, then withdrawing their resignations makes Anahita comment, "Why make a scandal of nothing? What do you get? Why didn’t anyone approach me for the facts?” If infighting continues, "Aapre oodi jaisu (would spell doom for the community). Government property lai lèsé (government will acquire the property). You won’t know what hit you,” the savvy corporator makes a renewed plea for community harmony.