A legacy of language, a legacy of love

We lost her last month And our lives are dimmed by a little less laughter and lustre for sure Rutty ManekshawmdashRutty Aunty to screenwriterphotographer Sooni Taraporevala and memdashwas the wonderful translator of two sellout editions of Parsi Bol Insults Endearments amp other Parsi Gujarati Phrases the book we cocompiled and copublishedShe was Soonirsquos father Rumirsquos cousin Over the years Sooni taped Rutty one of her favourite aunts talking about the old times in Bombaymdashwhen she was a kid family stories popular entertainments of the city in the 1950s and rsquo60shellip It was fascinatingly resoundingly interestingEach time I wound my way up the high four floors of steep stairs leading to her flat in the 1890serected building called Station Terraces skirting Grant Road railway station it seemed no big trudge ldquoWhat will I hear Rutty Aunty relate todayrdquo was the question my mind turned to easily Keeping me happier climbing looking forward eagerly to anecdotes and aphorisms alikeOn the front bench of her Italian class in Perugia 1971 Pic CourtesyMehernosh ManekshawHer hospitality stretched wide and welcoming On reaching the dining table we sat around to work on there awaited a regular feast of sandwiches and plump patties Tasty treats from Belgaum Ghee Depot at nearby Nana Chowk The trek down to ground level naturally proved more challenging on the full belly she decided we should leave her home with Encouraging my love for city history she told me the tale behind the food shoprsquos quaint name A patriarch of the Workingboxwalla family originally ran this as a business selling ghee brought from Belgaum in 1943 Once snacks were introduced here they became overnight hits I had poor luck at the counter never getting to it soon enough The delicacies disappearing on demand I stared disappointedly at empty shelves But no fear on cheerful days of work on Parsi Bol the Manekshaws had ordered the best in advanceHaving known her beloved Rutty Aunty all her life Sooni says ldquoRight till the end when I met her a few weeks before she passed at just under 98 her memory was intact What I will miss most about my Rutty Aunty was her prodigious memory and her capacity for fun Rutty and her husband Minoo were part of a family gang that travelled danced and partied together Her recollections ended with lsquoAapre soo majha kidhi What a great time we hadrsquordquoManekshaw with husband Minoo and cousin Freny Taraporevala on their 1966 scooter trip through south IndiaThey frequently went out dancing in a city that then boasted the countryrsquos largest number of live jazz bands playing in cafes like Napoli Volga Berryrsquos Gourdon Gaylord Talk of the Town and the Ambassador ldquoAmeh naachi naachi ne ardha thaya We danced till we felt half our sizerdquo she said bemoaning that young people now are deprived of such affordable restaurant actsAvowed movie buffs the Taraporevalas and Manekshaws often found themselves at Mayrose Restaurant across from Metro in aptly christened Cinema Lane ldquoWe parked outside Mayrose after Saturday night movies with snacks brought to the carsrdquo recalls Rumi Taraporevala ldquoHaving finished watching the film Rosemaryrsquos Baby in which Mia Farrow was impregnated by the devil courtesy dastardly Dr Sapirstein we jocularly hailed that eveningrsquos affable waiter lsquoSapirsteinrsquo He loved it rushing to greet us saying lsquoSapirstein Sapirsteinrsquo whenever we pulled up for servings after thatrdquoRutty Aunty added ldquoWhile making plans wersquod say lsquoLetrsquos go to Sapirsteinrsquo not lsquoLetrsquos go to Mayrosersquordquo Incidentally Mayrose hugging a corner of Kapadia Chambers was formerly Ava Chambers belonging to Gustad Khodadad Irani in 1938 If his wifersquos name graced this awning his fatherrsquos name was lent to Dadar TTrsquos Khodadad CircleWith the Taraporevalas at her 90th birthday dinner party Pics CourtesyRumi Taraporevala Mehernosh ManekshawContinuing to recall her fondest childhood memories involving Rutty Aunty Sooni says ldquoHer son Mehernosh and I grew up on Lambrettas and Vespas His parents had one mine did too In 1966 both couples embarked on a scooter trip around south India Mehernosh and I were left to my grandparents and granduncle who entertained us with trips to the circus and other such delights The parents returned several shades darker to find I had not done any homework the entire time they were awayrdquoldquoSoona ghani masti kartee thirdquo she told me in a tone so indulgent the roll of the eyes accompanying that remark amounted to nothing Sooni was Soona for her The daughter she never had ldquoMaari Soonardquo could do no wrong Proud of her niecersquos success as an internationally feted scriptwriter and photographer Rutty Aunty would declare ldquoOur Harvard graduate is so humble and good at her Gujaratirdquo Rutty Aunty had experienced an overseas learning stint of her own Mehernosh shares a charming photo showing her as a keen frontbencher there A pro at Gujarati English and Italian she worked for Montedison the Italian chemicals company which sent her to Perugia in 1971 for a threemonth immersive course in Italian She was required to rank in the top two of her Italian class to qualify for that visitldquoNo woman in our family had done anything closerdquo Sooni recalls ldquoWhen she returned I hung on to her every story about that adventure including how she dealt with bottompinching Italian men It was only natural that we roped her in to be a collaborator on Parsi Bol She not only matched our enthusiasm but exceeded it Remembering a phrase shersquod write it in the middle of the night to be relayed to us on the phone the next morning by MehernoshrdquoHer increasing deafnessmdashhardly helped by the dhadamdhadamdham rumble of local trains reverberating loud over the old stone wall of Station Terracesmdashnecessitated this slightly circuitous route For that condition as well she had the mots justes ready for comic relief not selfdeprecation The last person to feel sorry for any impediment she jokingly described her hearing loss using the phrase ldquoBehra ne behsrdquo literally ldquoThe deaf are in heavenrdquo idiomatically ldquoIgnorance is blissrdquoSooni points out ldquoBecause she was equally adept at both languages we were able to get translations that were nuanced idiomatic and yet precise She worked tirelessly patiently and always with her characteristic sense of humour not only translating but contributing many fine phrases herselfrdquoMehernosh offers examples of a couple of pet phrases Rutty Aunty was given to using There was ldquoAapru kidhelu aapri saathe We create our own karmasrdquo and ldquoMurva de Let it gordquo when she was fed up with something and wanted to put an end to the matter A line she picked up from playwright Adi Marzban went ldquoSagaa chhe te wala nathi ne wala chhe te sagaa nathi Sometimes blood relations are not your wellwishers and your wellwishers are not your blood relationsrdquoThe first redjacketed Parsi Bol book with Dolly Mistry also helping with some of the translation followed by the bright yellow edition combined to present a total of 1058 phrases crowdsourced from 308 contributors Along with plenty of her own Rutty Aunty accurately cracked their meanings and had us polish the translations uniformly throughout the pages Together we intended the effort as an exercise in chronicling to preserve the communityrsquos linguistic richness through its signature phrases Commenting on the timeliness of the publication actor Boman Irani quipped ldquoA world without Parsi Bol is as scary as losing the recipes for dhansak and lagan nu custard We would have lost forever what is unique to usmdashour humour our wisdom and our heritagerdquo Thanks to Rutty Aunty and other seniors in Soonirsquos family besides a bevy of fuis paternal aunts in mine we may have managed a modest salvaging attempt at documenting these priceless expressions ldquoActually she picked up a lot of phrases from her motherrdquo Mehernosh says of Rutty Auntyrsquos prolificity and proficiencyAnd what kind of mother was she ldquoShe was one tough ladyrdquo he replies ldquoNot too strict but always inculcating values To be strong to never back off from qualities to believe in like honesty and forthrightness She avoided confrontations was willing to compromise and avoided unpleasantness even if she felt offended or hurt She remained quite headstrong though to her last day Having undergone many sicknesses she recovered from cancers a stroke and a whole host of other ailments She was all about tenacityrdquoIn later years she missed her fix of novels and newspapers unable to read owing to failing eyesight With the deafness this was a huge handicap She bore them lightly of course With stout resolution she made independent phone calls despite the sad reality of seldom catching the words spoken at the other end of the line But we knew what hers wereldquoI will miss her calls to inform me of the familyrsquos Parsi birthdaysrdquo Sooni says ldquoShersquod start withmdashlsquoSoona Today is your Firdausrsquo or Jahanrsquos or Iyanahrsquos lsquoroj noo varasrsquo birthday according to the Zoroastrian calendarrdquoThat same thoughtfulness was extended to me on getting to know her Rutty Aunty would unfailingly wish me and my husband on our special daysmdashwith her warm phone tone and loving lilt of voiceAs Sooni asks ldquoWho will remind us nowrdquoAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay You can reach her at mehermarfatiamiddaycomwwwmeher marfatiacom