Lord Bilimoria and his interesting speech in the Congress
Lords also experience failures

Ashkan Khosrowpour:  He was the only one for whom everyone kept absolutely silent to listen to his speech.  Lord Karan Bilimoria, who is 48 years old, is the only Parsee who carries the title of Lord.
He was the first personality to deliver a speech in the 9th WZC.  He started his speech by narrating a personal memory, simple and interesting.
He spoke about the importance of accuracy of work and proper management of the anjumans and linked this subject to one of his memories.  He said:  “One day, my mother, father and me were riding on a scooter when we met with an accident, in which only my brother who was not yet born, died, and no one else had serious injury.  I thanked God because it could have had worse consequences.  Just think, each of the heads of Anjumans and Organizations can be compared with that scooter driver and alas, if they make a mistake, the cost that they would have to pay may not be small.”
Here, he spoke about his life and his goals and about his beliefs.  It was easy to understand that this man was sincere in his words.
He spoke about the days when he migrated from India to England.  He said:  “In those days everyone in my family would tell me that I would not get anywhere in life, and the reason they gave was that I was a foreigner.”
He also spoke about his failures, sometimes to the extent of losing everything in life.  Lord Bilimoria spoke about his endeavors, about the meager Zoroastrian population in the world and added:  “It was not important how many, we Zoroastrians, are in number but it matters how useful we can be in this world.  While studying in the university I applied a few times for the title of Lord but each time I was told that because I am a Parsee and we have not had a Parsee Lord upto now, it is not possible.  I was also told: You come from the land of Gandhi.  You should be ashamed.  Do you know that if Gandhi was living what would he say?  I replied that if Gandhi was living I would give him one of the Cobra beer bottles, which belongs to me and would tell him:  Look Gandhi! This beer is a product of your country.  This is one of the largest beer factories in the world.  Gandhi, look at it and be proud of the people of your country.”
Then, he added:  “You know, if one stands in front of me and asks me: how do you feel as a Parsee Lord, I will say that I am proud of my nationality, my faith and above all of being a Zoroastrian.”
The words sounded like the headlines of movies, there was something in him that made my hair stand on end.  When he said he was proud of being a Zoroastrian it was as though I was listening to an Iranian hymn.  I was so excited.
With these few minutes speech Dr Bilimoria impressed everyone, including me.  In days when people use all sorts of tricks to pull themselves up, he was a different person.  He truly has a strong and lovable personality.

Translation by Rowshan Lohrasbpour