DAWN - Cowasjee Corner; 20 December, 1998
The old school
Ardeshir Cowasjee
EVERY few years the Old Virbaijeeites, the old boys of the Bai Virbaijee Soparivala Parsi High School, my old school otherwise known as the BVS, reunite to wine and dine and to honour some of the elders who they feel are ready for the long jump.
This year I fell into that bracket, along with my elder cousin, Nadir Dinshaw Kabraji, classmate Minoo Bamjee, two old soldiers, Brigadier Jal Golwalla and Lt. Colonel Maneckjee Pestonjee Soparivala ('Mack'), and a few others. The speeches were crisp and short, the dinner long and enjoyable.
In 1843, the Parsis, the men originally from Pars, sailed into Karachi from Bombay, Surat, Variaw and other ports of the West Coast of India. As has been the norm of our community, the first thing they established was a place wherein to lay their dead, the Tower of Silence, built in 1847 by Hormusjee Dadabhai Ghadiali. Then, in 1848, Hirjibhai Jamshedji Behrana built in Saddar a place of prayer and a meeting place, an 'Atash Kadeh,' to which our Mobeds, the priests, are consigned. Our priests are ordinary men, treated with no special reverence, who accept their place in life with equanimity and preside over weddings, navjotes funerals and thanksgiving rituals.
Our religion being simple, secular, and tolerant, strictly between Man and his God, has little use for the priesthood. The community is religious to the extent of each man's leaning and all are capable of distinguishing religion from religiosity. Our religion teaches us to 'live,' not merely to 'exist'. There are no taboos, no prohibitions, no commandments. We are taught to live in the world as we find it, to fit in, to assimilate, and to shun and hold in contempt hypocrites, sycophants and self-servers. Early in life, a young Parsi is taught that he should humour the bigots and tyrants he may have the misfortune to come across, that he should not react to them and merely let them continue on their way. "Jetlo motto gadhero, tetli jhukinay salaam karo."
Next came the establishment of a school and a gymnasium, in which to exercise both mind and body. In 1859, the community met in the 'Atash Kadeh', and elected educationist Nanabhai Framjee Spencer (the great-grandfather of Professor Adi Spencer) as the first honorary secretary. He organized what was needed and by May 23 of that year the 'Balak Shala' was ready to open. Shapurjee Hormusjee Soparivala, one of Napier's favourite commissariat suppliers, accommodated the school in his house and donated the princely sum of Rs.10,000. Thus came into being the BVS, named after his wife, Virbaijee. It was a community project and has remained such.
The school was not and is not a business venture. The Parsis donated their money and time. The chronicle of servers and donors lists everybody who was and is anybody in the community. The Parsi children studying at the BVS wanted nothing. They learnt well and left school equipped with knowledge, manners, and balanced minds.
Come 1947, and with it partition and that great man Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who also knew the value of education. He made a survey of the schools in existence in Karachi and drew up his plans to provide education for the huge bulk of children who came in with the events of that year. He could easily have appropriated or requisitioned whatever schools there were, but such options were not for a man such as he. He met the elders of the Parsi community - Jamshed Nusserwanjee, Pestonjee Soparivala (Shapurjee's grandson), Ardeshir Mama (founder of the Mama Parsi Girls' School), and Rustom Fakirjee Cowasjee. He did not 'demand'; he pleaded his cause, he requested.
"Will you please help?" he asked them. "Your community runs two well organized schools, the BVS and the Mama. I know they are Trust schools established solely for the children of the Parsi community but my request is that you open your doors temporarily to the children of the Muslims of this new nation until I can build their schools."
In his capacity as a lawyer practising in Bombay he had drafted many a Parsi trust deeds and understood the complexities. He advised that the entire community be taken into confidence and asked to give their assent. A 'Samast Parsi Anjuman' meeting was called. It was unanimously agreed that schools were established to educate children, and that there could be no discrimination on the grounds of race and religion. The two Parsi schools were to immediately open their doors to the Muslim and other non-Parsi children of Karachi, not temporarily but permanently.
This year's old boys' reunion was organized by that energetic Old Virbaijeeite, Dr Feroz Ismail (class of 1966). Going back to the old school after a long time reminded me of the happy years I had spent there, from 1931 to 1941.
My principal was Dr Maneck Bejonji Pithawalla (1920-46). He taught us English, both language and literature. Some of the poems he taught us still echo in my head - Southey's 'The Inchcape Rock' and the story of the Abbot of Aberbrothock, Longfellow's 'The Wreck of the Hesperus', and Mrs Heman's 'Casablanca,' the story of the boy who stood steadfast on the burning deck. Professor Pithawalla also taught geography and laid great stress on the value in later life of a sound base of general knowledge.
An extract from the speech he delivered at his farewell function illustrates the quality of the man :
"At this moment, while thanking you in all humility for the very kind words you have said about me, I cannot help bringing back to my mind all those faithful and hard-working but poorly-paid members of the staff, without whose able assistance I would never have achieved the results pointed out by you. They remained poor, while the harvest that you reaped at their hands was rich. Nothing better was humanly possible with the low fees of 8 annas, as for the Infant Class, and Rs.5 for the Matriculation Class. Small wonder, that only deficits could be shown in the annual budget.
"But poverty, as I have always maintained, is not a sin. It could never be an obstacle to one's progress and evolution - and we went on with our duties to keep the BVS banner flying as high as we could. Poverty enables human beings to give their very best, goads them on to hard labour, and leads them to loftier stages of life. This I realize myself in particular, as I belonged to one of the poorest families in Navsari. But my poverty was my pride; and I endeavoured to brighten the lot of my parents in every way. The BVS was then called a poor boys' school, with a very large number drawn from the lower strata of the community. They were fed and clothed free; their class fees and textbooks were also given to them free. Having myself felt the sting of poverty, I always had a soft corner in my heart for them."
Pithawalla was followed by Behram Sohrab H.J. Rustomjee (1946-65), another fine teacher, an all-rounder and a great humanist, whose mind at the age of 85 is still active and incisive. Then came Behram Minwalla and Russi Divecha, both of whom were there for a very short time. Dinoo Mistri (nee Soparivala), the great-grand-daughter of the founder, Shapurji, took over as principal in 1972, a position she still holds. At the reunion, she sat on the stage alongside her brother, Colonel Mack, now the chairman of the school's managing committee. Mack, a man of the 10th Baloch regiment, now long retired from service, fought in North Africa in World War II with Montgomery's Eighth Army.
The other soldier with us that day, Brigadier Jal Golwala, born in 1917, a year before Mack, was head boy in my time. He stood first in every exam in school, in college in Bombay, and even for the Pakistan Army staff college entrance exam in 1951 which qualified him to be sent to Camberley for training. Commissioned from the IMA Dehra Dun in 1944, he was the first Indian parachute officer. During the 1965 war, he commanded the 16th Punjab on the Batapur front.
Both Mack and Jal are still fighting fit, upright and trim. They put many of us to shame. Standing, they are both straight up and down, and can see their shoe-laces when they lower their eyes. Much to the annoyance of those with whom they now work, they are at their desks by 0825 each morning.
The BVS has produced many an entrepreneur - shipowners and shipbreakers (between them, owners and breakers have sponsored six schools for The Citizens Foundation), cotton kings, mill owners and industrialists. We are proud that from our school have come no politicians and no defaulters. Each man who has been through the BVS has given to his fellow beings more than he has taken from them.