Armaity Tirandaz: A well-earned victory

The winner takes it all! Initially shy, Armaity came into her own on the campaign trail with force and felicity. Picture by Hoshang Nekoo

Armaity Rustom Tirandaz is the newly-elected Trustee of the Bombay Parsi Panchayat (BPP), having won the recent election that was necessitated by the untimely demise of her late husband, Rustom.

For the largely peace-loving Parsi community of Mumbai, it is fitting that a gentle and competent person like her has been installed at the apex institution, hopefully bringing to an end weeks of vicious acrimony and some really “yellow-yellow dirty fellow” journalism!

The manner in which the death of a little girl was twisted into an election gimmick, to disgrace and defame the sitting BPP Trustees, many of them supporters of Mrs. Tirandaz’s candidature, with a view to jeopardising her chances, has all come to naught. The community has proved, yet again, that it wishes to abide by decorum and tradition, and will put in place Trustees who will not compromise upon either.

Despite relentless and ruthless attempts to browbeat the electorate through slander, scandal-mongering and the surreptitious camouflaging of an unholy agenda (by some vested interests out to hijack its peace and preservation), the Paris community has yet again prudently picked out the right person who will best serve its larger interests.

This, of course, doesn’t go down too well with certain people, who keep rearing their obdurate heads. But, perhaps, they need to heed the message behind the mandate: that these are the Trustees the community has selected and elected. And while defeat may be a devastating thing, there is also something called accepting it gracefully.

Congratulations to Armaity Tirandaz, and...

To her wonderful family who has stood by her at a time when they were overcoming the anguish of losing their patriarch, putting aside much personal pain to don the mantle of public service...

To the many people who campaigned for her with great grit and gumption...

To all the sitting Trustees of the BPP because they now have their ‘Super Seven’ Board back in full strength, and can put skirmishes aside to start afresh and live up to the faith the community has vested in them...

And to those Parsis who, in the silence of their souls, time and again, find the strength to come out and do the right thing, despite the cacophony of these very conflicted times.


With Jimmy Mistry, who stood by her despite many other defectors in Dadar, post Rustom's demise

With elder son, Faredoon, on the night she won the election! Photo by Viraf Hansotia

First Wives Club! Pansy Dinshaw Mehta, Delna Jimmy Mistry, Firoza Khojeste Mistree and Anahita Yazdi Desai (not in pic) were rock-solid in their support

Victory is finally here for Armaity and her team! Rustom's soul will rejoice... this is his victory too!