Vol. 54 Issue No. 43 Mumbai April 23 to April 29, 2013 Pages 8 Price Rs. 3/- Crusader-cum-satirist Aabid Surti receives the Club’s Taru Lalvani Award for Environment Protection as one ever heard of an award for environmental protection being presentedH to a satirist-cum-cartoonist? Such an improbable occurrence took place at the last meeting when the Rotary Club of Bombay Taru Lalvani Award for Environment Protection was presented to Mr. Aabid Surti who is well known as a painter, illustrator, artiste and satirist. What few know is that he has been waging a lonely war to save every drop of water by going to people’s houses and helping fix their leaking taps. He has been doing this for over seven years in the sprawling suburb of Mira Road where he knocks on residents’ doors every Sunday morning. He is accompanied by a plumber who car- Well done, Sir! Emma and Jetu Lalvani present the Rotary Club of Bombay Taru Lalvani Award for Environment ries a bag full of O-rings (gaskets or Protection to Mr. Aabid Surti, well-known painter, illustrator, artiste and satirist, at the last meeting. washers) and repairs the leaks. President Nowroze Vazifdar is at left Although he has formed an NGO called Drop Dead (with the tagline: has received a few big and many small the underworld and under whom After the introduction, Emma and Save every drop, or drop dead), his is contributions from those who have Dawood Ibrahim worked as a youth. Jetu Lalvani presented the Rotary Club clearly a thankless job. No one ever heard about his mission and have been “The book covers most of the pro- of Bombay Taru Lalvani Award for asked him to take up such a campaign, touched by it. minent facts and figures related to the Environment Protection to Mr. Aabid no one pays for the cost of the wash- In fact, at the last meeting, he re- rise of the organised Muslim crime Surti. ers, the salary of the plumber, or even ceived close to Rs. 1 lakh for his work world in Bombay. It’s a must-read.” There was prolonged applause as for the time that Mr. Surti spends ev- – a cheque for Rs. 40,000 as part of Dolly went on to describe in detail President Nowroze Vazifdar joined ery Sunday morning. the Taru Lalvani Award for Environ- Mr. Surti’s campaign to conserve ev- them. He started by spending from his ment Protection and a sum of Rs. ery drop of water in suburban Mira The award consisted of a memento pocket, diverting award monies re- 50,000 as a spontaneous donation Road over the last seven years. (De- and a cheque for Rs. 40,000. ceived to the cause; over the years he from some members (See Box inside). tails on Page 4) (Please see Page 4) Dolly Thakore, who introduced Mr. Surti, pointed out that as a graphic ar- Forthcoming tiste he had created a cartoon strip meetings called “Dablooji” which ran for over 30 years. April 23, 2013 While some people remembered him A talk on “Prevention of cancer” as a writer or as a painter, few were by Dr. Rajendra A. Badwe of the aware of the fact that he was a screen Tata Memorial Centre who was writer for two outstanding film direc- recently conferred the Padma Shri tors, Raj Khosla and Raj Kapoor, and award by the President of India. had written several plays, too. One of April 30, 2013 these plays, he recalled, had been re- Dr. Sitesh Roy to speak on “Cur- viewed by her (Dolly). ing incurable diseases”. Mr. Surti had also written the dia- May 7, 2013 logue for Hungama Bombay Ishtyle, a Dr. S. Mukherjee, Director-Gen- children’s film directed by Ayesha eral of the Prince of Wales Museum, Sayani. now known as the Chhatrapati One of his books was titled Sufi Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangraha- which was a reportage mixed with a laya, to speak on “Museums: story of two living characters, one of Building cultures – Increasing scope them the author himself and the other for cultural interactions”. Mine is not a rags to riches story, it’s from rags to happiness, says a man called Iqbal who was “king” of Mr. Aabid Surti at the last meeting (Please see Page 2) MY STORY IS NOT FROM RAGS TO RICHES, IT’S FROM RAGS TO HAPPINESS, SAYS ARTISTE AABID SURTI The following is a verbatim account save money, went for a cheap plumb- came to me. When the idea came to for others, He will take care of you, of the acceptance speech delivered by ing system which destroyed every- me, I started wondering how to imple- you don’t have to go to anybody with Mr. Aabid Surti after receiving the thing. ment it. If I were to go to people’s a begging bowl for funds. He becomes Rotary Club of Bombay Taru Apart from this, plumbers charged houses with a plumber, I would have your fund-raiser. It has happened with Lalvani Award for Environment about Rs. 100 to Rs. 400 per visit and to buy gasket rings and other things, I me. Protection at the last meeting. poor families could not afford to call a would have to go to and fro between Another point. There are so many think Dolly has said everything that plumber for such a petty job. They different apartment buildings. temptations if you are running an II wanted to say and as there is noth- were hard-working people, struggling As I thought about this aspect, I NGO; even though mine is a one- ing left to say, I will take up the basic to earn their bread, where would they got the news that I would be getting man NGO, yet there are many question, one that every journalist, get the money to call a plumber just to an award of Rs. 1 lakh for my lit- temptations. every person who meets me asks, stop the dripping? So the dripping erature. This was totally unex- Somebody, a very sincere friend of “How did you get the idea, this simple went on, for months and even for pected. And the thought came to me mine from Gujarat, said that he had idea?” years. that this award had not come to me arranged Rs. 13 lakhs from the State My answer to that question is, I also noted that the maximum leak- for literature, it had come to me for government for funding my NGO. I because I grew up on the pavement. age was in old buildings. In new build- my project. So the money was not said, if someone is giving money will- We were living in a chawl, a single ings, the builders had gone for a good mine. ingly, he is most welcome. room in which the whole family of plumbing system and good quality taps I put it in the bank in the name But he said there was a slight hitch. about 15 people was living... So so that leakages hardly took place; of the Drop Dead Foundation and I would have to return Rs. 5 lakhs. I there was no place to sleep, no wa- there were perhaps one or two taps started my work. said to him, why just Rs. 5 lakhs, tell ter and, as Dolly said, we had to that dripped in an entire apartment In four years, from 2007 to 2010, him to keep Rs. 13 lakhs! I didn’t ac- fight for every bucket. I carried that building. the money was over because I was cept it. legacy, that memory with me; it But in poor localities, in buildings also spending it for publicity, for T- What I want to stress is that if there affected me so much that I could with just two floors, we have had to shirts, posters and on other ways to is sincerity and honesty, you will get not forget it. work for about two weeks. make more people aware. help. As I grew up, whenever I went to a The point I want to make is that all As the money got over in 2010, I I got another offer, this one from friend’s house or visited people, I used of this affected me psychologically and thought that I had done my job, that I the Maharashtra government, but again to note that at least one tap, either in I started feeling frustrated within. had inspired many people and that I with the same string attached. I would the kitchen or in the bathroom or the Around that time, I read in the should close down. have to return a few lakhs. I said I toilet, was leaking. I could hear the Hindustan Times that if one drop of But then I received another award don’t want the money. sound of dripping water from at least water dripped in one second, then in of Rs. 50,000, a lifetime achievement Mahatma Gandhi has said, if one tap. I would request them to please one month 1,000 litres of water went award from the Maharashtra govern- your foundation is weak, if your do something about it. They would down the drain. ment. So once again, from 2010 to foundation is corrupt, then your say yes, they would do it. This hit me very hard. When I men- 2012, the mission was on and then whole building is corrupt and it is But it was just a drop of water, so tioned it to people, they would say, again the money was spent.