The sender’s name Fram Framji showing up in the Parsiana inbox usually signified a death announcement of a Parsi in or from Pakistan. For over a decade our magazine has been depending on these emails to feature Pakistan deaths in our Milestones column. On September 10, 2024 when we noticed that the name of the sender and the name of the deceased were the same, we realized that the service run by him had outlived his lifespan.
As was stated in a tribute in the October 2024 issue of What’s On, the newsletter of the Karachi Zarthosti Banu Mandal, initially "an obituary email group was formed by Zersis Birdie. In September 2010 when Zersis was moving out of Pakistan, Fram agreed to take over the task of keeping the group informed of obituaries. Rapidly this turned into a large group (of 600 plus). This then called for responsibility to send out emails at any hour of the day so that recipients could receive timely information to attend the prayers. Fram did this with commitment and dependability, and most of us just took it as a facility we enjoyed like so many others. In 2020 his health prevented him from continuing these demanding dispatches and he requested his elder daughter Arnaz to take on the responsibility despite her holding a managerial position. She and sporadically his younger daughter Nilofer have dispensed this responsibility as diligently as their father.”
"In the IT field from 1967, when computers first came to Pakistan, Fram was initially a software developer and later branched out into being a hardware consultant. He also had a huge passion for aircraft and had trained as a ground engineer in Delhi. He had flown the Tiger Moth. This is something we got to know of when we visited the Pakistan Air Force Museum, and his eyes instantly lit up on seeing this aircraft,” Arnaz conveyed to Parsiana. Besides flying aircraft on a flight simulator and watching movies connected with aviation his hobbies included reading and listening to music. Ill health incapacitated him in the last three years beginning 2021 when urinary tract infections, fractures in his pelvic bone, septic shock, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease eventually resulted in cardiac arrest at the age of 81 years.
Top and above: Fram Framji with (from l) wife Perviz, daughters Arnaz Framji and Nilofer Jijina in 2008
"Around eight years ago when a friend’s mother — also a Zarathushti — passed away and opted for cremation, Fram decided — and reiterated over the years — that he wanted to be cremated too,” revealed Arnaz. Cremation, not being common amongst Parsis in Karachi (her father’s cremation being only the second instance known to Arnaz), the family was required to make prior arrangements. They had to seek permission in advance from the concerned Hindu organization for the body to be carried to the Shamshan Ghat where they have only wooden pyres. A close acquaintance helped with the arrangements on the day of cremation. "All Fram’s prayers were done as per our Zarathushti rituals. There was absolutely no hesitation whatsoever from our mobeds,” confirmed Arnaz.
Born in Karachi, Fram’s father Dhan decided to move the family to Delhi during the partition in 1947. Fram studied at St Columba’s School in Central Delhi. He continued to reside in Delhi until the mid 1960s when he moved to Karachi. He had happy memories of the Parsis and his early days in Delhi. Parsis in Karachi he viewed as "a jolly, peace loving, friendly and caring community, always willing to go out of the way if needed to give a helping hand,” added Arnaz.
Writt