A LIFE IN THE SHADOW OF RUSI B. MOBED

the pioneer of aeromodelling in the Indo-Pak Subcontinent

by F.E. Antia

Daastan Publishing

First Published in Pakistan by Daastan PVT LTD

House # A-41, Madni Street, Lala Rukh, Wah Cantt, Punjab 47040

www.daastan.com

www.meraqissa.com

Text copyrights © F.E. Antia

Book Design copyright © F.E. Antia

The moral rights of the writer, illustrator and editor have been asserted.

All rights reserved

This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or distributed in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

ISBN 978-969-696-697-5

Printed and bound in Pakistan by Pixel Printing Solutions

In memory of

RUSI B. MOBED

Founder of Aeromodelling Society of Pakistan,

Son, Father, Brother, and Uncle.

1912 - 1996

Contents

My Maternal Home

An Inspired Childhood

Choosing a Different Path

Iran in 1974

A Changed Karachi

A Visual Portfolio

Preserving My Mamu’s Work and His Memory

My Maternal Home

When I close my eyes, I see things I have lost with time. My favorite memory is from that bright day in 1954. The sky was full of airplane models made of Balsawood. Some were big, but most were very small in size. I was mesmerized to see so many flying models that day. I stood in the middle of the ground, my eyes on the many planes all at once. I didn’t know which one to focus on, and so I kept looking in the direction above with planes entering and leaving my view. I remember making once again the decision to become a pilot when I grow up, and I remember being happy.

I remember seeing my mamu happy too. He was looking at the sky above just like me, but his trained eyes were focused on and dissecting each and every model plane that flew above us. With keen eyes, he judged the build and flight of each model. He was not only the judge but also the one who had arranged for that aeromodelling flying competition to take place at the PAF base, Drig Road in Karachi on that bright day in 1954. He was Rusi B. Mobed, the pioneer of aeromodelling in the Indo-Pak subcontinent.

My passion for modelling was instilled in me by watching him. He would make airplane models, and I’d take the scraps of wood, cardboard, and paper left from his models and create something of my own from them. I was not inspired by my mamu’s passion for aeromodelling alone, but having lost my own father at the age of three and never getting to know him, my mamu was the man I looked up to in my life.

When my father died in 1945, my mother moved back with my grandmother. My father’s family was from Bombay, and my mother’s family was based in Karachi. Though Karachi and Bombay are considered similarly chaotic cities today, Karachi was much peaceful back then.

Pakistan didn’t even exist on the world map, and little did anyone know how bad things were going to get in the subcontinent in the following years. I was too young to remember anything when the Partition happened, and since Parsis were not among the two majorities in India, it spared me from experiencing anything violent first-hand as a result of it.

Life in Karachi continued as it always had. We lived in the Dinshaw Complex, a Parsi housing complex located opposite Regal Cinema. At that time, though Karachi was an important city, it was still not as populous.

Throughout my school life, I would spend my after-school hours either watching my uncle build models or making models myself. While my uncle was focused on airplanes, I was also interested in trains. Mamu knew I loved trains, and he would often take me to the Cantt station so that I could watch trains pass by.

There wasn't a high boundary wall around it then as it is now. I would sit on the front rod of Mamu’s bicycle, and we would go to the phatak gate. There we would talk about trains and airplanes as we would wait for the train to arrive.

Once a train would arrive, we would go quiet and enjoy watching the train move, its wheels turning, identical boxes passing us by one after the other, the whistling of its engine and the steam blowing upwards from it. I would get filled with happiness watching the man-made marvel.

I began my career in creating models at the age of twelve, and I made models of both trains and planes. The first kit I ever used for modelling was a Guillow’s kit model P-38 lighting. It was also twin-engine rubber powered. It was with this model that I had entered the aeromodelling flying competition at the PAF field at Drigh Road, organized by my mamu, Mr. Mobed. I had received third prize at that competition, adding another reason for that day to be one of my fondest memories from my childhood.

Though I had started making models of my own, I could watch my uncle build models all day, any day. He used to sit at the table in our small two-bedroom apartment and build balsa wood flying models. The table was placed in front of the only sofa, a two-seater, on which mamu would sit.