Our dear friend and eminent Parsi historian Marzban Jamshedji Giara sends us this interesting nugget…
Tourists visiting Vadva village in Bharuch district see a horsefarm. 80 years old Noshir Homawalla has a hobby of keeping horses. A horsefarm spread over 2.5 acres and an eyecatching farmhouse has been maintained by him. A bachelor, he has inherited the hobby of rearing horses from his ancestors. According to him his family has been rearing horses for 137 years.
He has developed a vast horsefarm and kept the family tradition alive. His entire life he has devoted to caring for horses. He has 43 horses of good pedigree at his horsefarm at present. According to him Sindhi and Marwad pedigree horses are considered the best and he has horses of these two pedigrees. He spends daily Rs.200 to Rs.250 on each horse.
This amounts to a daily expense of Rs.8000 to Rs.10,000 every day for 43 horses. Monthly expense is Rs.2,5 lakhs which comes to Rs.30 lakhs annually after maintaining the horses. Even at the age of eighty Noshir Homawalla rides ten kilometers everyday.
Vadva village is 20 kilometres east of Bharuch city.
(Source: Gujarat Mitra supplement Asspas Chopas of Tuesday 1st October 2019. Pic of Noshir Homawalla riding a horse). Translated into English by Marzban Jamshedji Giara
I wish there was a picture of Homawala on his horse..