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Dara Feroze Mirza, son of Feroze and Tehmina Mirza was
born into an illustrious family that had migrated in the
mid-1800's from Tiblisi in Georgia to Iran. From Iran,
they moved to Hyderabad-Sindh.
Dara is the grand-son of Sydney of Mirza and from his
mother's side, of Rustom D. Kanga both were Scholars and
Theosophists.
He
was the great grand son of Khan Bahadur Shmas-ul-ulema
Mirza Qalich Beg, Kaiser-e-Hind and of Mirza Jaffer Quli
Beg, who was the first person from the Province of Sindh
to study medicine in England and get his FRCS from
there.
Dara was born in Bombay [Mumbai] on 25th April 1937. He
did his early schooling at St. Lawrence's Convent School
in Karachi, and later transferred to St. Patrick's High
School from where he did his Senior Cambridge. He passed
his B. Com from St. Patrick's College Karachi.
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He
was born into a family with a tradition of intellectual
learning and deep spiritual values. He joined the
Theosophical Society in his early teens, but had imbibed
the Theosophical values of Universal Brotherhood and
Compassion all life from his parents who were both
Members of the Society. In fact, Dara was a fourth
generation Theosophist of the Mirza family.
He was
the President of the Karachi Theosophical Society for over 32
years and for decades conducted a weekly study class on
spirituality, comparative religion, and the ethics of life. He
was a Member of the Council of Management of the Theosophical
Order of Service, the Service wing of the Theosophical
Society, and contributed generously to its educational
sponsorship programme for poor and needy students.
He was a
member of the Managing Committee of the Poor Patients Relief
Society and was also holding the post of Presidential
Representative for Pakistan of the International President of
the Theosophical Society Mrs. Radha Burnier. He was also vice
president of the Indo-Pacific Federation of the Theosophical
Society.
A
gentle, compassionate and loving human being, he dedicated all
his time to the service of not only his fellow human beings
but to the homeless animals of the city. Dozens of stray cats
and dogs were fed twice a day seven days a week by his
domestic servants who had instructions to inform him if any
animal was sick and in need of medical attention. He would
then administer homeopathic medicines to them as he was a keen
student of homeopathy and had successfully treated hundreds
sick animals and birds. He also extended financial help on a
monthly basis to several destitute families.
Professionally Dara always held senior positions at his place
of work. He was personally involved in the starting of the
computer division of Habib Bank Limited in the 1960s. He later
resigned from the bank as Executive Vice President and joined
the House of Habib to set up Noble Computers Limited, a
software house, of which he was the Managing Director until
his retirement. He was later called back to the company in the
capacity of a consultant.
He was a
brilliant speaker and being a keen student of Theosophy,
Philosophy and Comparative Religion, he was regularly invited
abroad to speak at International Forums in connection with the
above mentioned subjects. He was an accomplished pianist and
had a deep and extensive knowledge of western classical music.
He was also keenly interested in geology and had a vast
collection of fossils that he and a group of his friends had
collected in their teenage years from the hills in the
Manghopir area.
Dara
never married, but to his nieces and nephews he was a much
loved uncle who told them stories when they were little and
took a keen interest in their lives as they were growing up,
and later in the lives of their children.
A most
adored and beloved brother to his two sister, and after the
death of their father to his younger sister he was not only a
brother but a father figure and a pillar of strength. He was
loved by one and all as a gentle, loving, kind-hearted,
compassionate, loyal, noble and generous to a fault, human
being.
Dara
went missing on the 14th of September 2007. He left for work
in the morning, but never reached the office. The next day his
body was found lying in an area near Mauripur. He had been
shot through the heart.
His
passing on has created a vacuum which will be difficult to
fill. We can honour him by continuing the work of the
Theosophical Society to which he dedicated his entire life.
Fareeda Amir |
