Dinshaw Avari- Trying my Hand at Blogging!

March 1, 2020     The “ills” of our times date back to the 1700’s East India Company! In yesterday afternoon’s fascinating book launch “ The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company ” at the Karachi Literature Festival, William Dalrymple identifies the source of global corporate corruption and rot in society … The East India Company. Darlymple’s style of delivery is OUTSTANDING!  He’s humorous, easy to listen to, succinct and energetic.  It was a pleasure to hear his two presentations yesterday and I hope we have the opportunity to hear more from him in future.  For a Saturday morning session, he  had an excellent turnout.   “ Forgotten Masters - Indian Painting For The East India Company ”  Starting from “… a five room office, smaller than the Beach Luxury Hotel…” and 3% of global trade, the East India Company grew to cover almost 40% of global trade.  It was, pure and simple, in the business to make a p...

February 29, 2020 This morning’s session at the KLF with Dr Asad Sayeed, Ghazi Salahuddin and Dr Huma Baqai (moderated very capably by Yasir Qazi), like a lot of discussions on Pakistan’s civil (and social) direction, was pessimistic … unfortunately and, I believe, rightly.                Several questions emerged from this discussion – i)                     Where is the Pakistani civil voice? ii)                    Who is the cause of the destruction/silencing of this civil voice? iii)                  Why does the middle class - the backbone of any society – stay silent [numb] over atrocities that are committed in society over and ove...

(2 of 13) REPLY ADDRESS BY MR. DINSHAW B AVARI ON THE OCCASION TO COMMEMORATE HIS 85 th BIRTHDAY on NOV 5, 1987- “ I want to tell you that I was very ambitious and hard-working and I used to go down to an  Irani  Restaurant after office hours, sit at a table and would call the people in the room to come and have Tea and biscuits with me (at my cost of course). Remember that the charges for this was One Anna per person. Round about 10 persons used to join me every day and I used to give them a lecture on the advantages of Life Insurance. Do you know that, by my offering them tea and Biscuits and giving them lectures, seven persons out ten would agree to insure their lives with me and the very next day, I used to take them to Doctor Adi Kohiyar, the leading physician of Bombay in the early morning at 7.00 a.m. for Life Assurance Examination. This tactic of mine resulted in generating the largest amount of Life Assurance sold in any one month, in the whole of Bombay Pr...

February 14, 2020 I surprised my future wife with a romantic(?) Valentine’s dinner the year we were dating; and then for the next few years after our marriage... …and just as suddenly those romantic dinners stopped J , not for want of trying   … I just “forgot”! There is no religious significance of Valentines Day to the general public in Pakistan.   However, we all like to celebrate it as a means of entertainment. Valentine’s occasion brings activity to Pakistan’s society in general.   It’s a means of entertainment- besides eating and drinking, there’s not much more one can do in a large city like Karachi. I’ve found that occasions like Valentine’s increases market activity; there’s a positive vibe in the City; employment and commerce is generated by eating places.   Besides this, roadside sellers of flowers have a boon.   Patisserie orders increase (…so does your waist line!). Pakistanis are not celebrating any religious ang...

February 11, 2020   ( http://t2online.com/lifestyle/comedian-cyrus-broacha-gets-real-about-his-bestie-kunal-vijaykar/cid/14024 ) Our family are Parsi Zoroastrians, a minority so minuscule that we are almost an “endangered” species in our own right 🤣 ! Recently I came across an hilarious post purportedly by Cyrus Broacha, a famous TV Personality, Comedian and … Parsi. So, for a little mid-week humour, let me quote verbatim what I read – QUOTE “While most surnames in India reflect caste and lineage, the Parsis had a delightfully modern streak — having landed from Persia without caste, history or context, they created name identities through professions and names of places (cities and streets). Our family moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) from Rawalpindi during the partition in 1947. We came as refugees, but the family soon settled down and by 1953 my father had started playing golf at the Willingdon Club. I was eight years old and would walk 18 holes with him ...

February 11, 2020   ( http://t2online.com/lifestyle/comedian-cyrus-broacha-gets-real-about-his-bestie-kunal-vijaykar/cid/14024 ) Our family are Parsi Zoroastrians, a minority so minuscule that we are almost an “endangered” species in our own right 🤣 ! Recently I came across an hilarious post purportedly by Cyrus Broacha, a famous TV Personality, Comedian and … Parsi. So, for a little mid-week humour, let me quote verbatim what I read – QUOTE “While most surnames in India reflect caste and lineage, the Parsis had a delightfully modern streak — having landed from Persia without caste, history or context, they created name identities through professions and names of places (cities and streets). Our family moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) from Rawalpindi during the partition in 1947. We came as refugees, but the family soon settled down and by 1953 my father had started playing golf at the Willingdon Club. I was eight years old and would walk 18 holes with him ...