UK
Asian Voice - Saturday 21st July 2012
Obituary
Lady Sajjankunver Gohel The epitome of the old adage, ‘behind every great man, there is a great woman’ Lady Sajjankunver Gohel played a major but discreet role in the success of her late husband, Sir Jay. As a mother she has been a central pillar, a solid foundation for her two sons and grandchildren. Her strength, energy, patience and zest for life were such important drivers in helping to shape all of us. Her values inspire us. The daughter of Rajput nobleman Jaswantsinhji Sarvaiya, Sajjankunver was born in Rohinshala, Palitana, Kathiawar on Sunday 1st June 1919. She passed away on Tuesday 3rd July aged 93, and a large gathering of mourners gathered last week in Golders Green to celebrate her remarkable life. The proud wife of Sir Jayvantsinhji K Gohel, CBE, known as Jay, whom she married in 1941. He had just returned to India from London after becoming a Barrister at the Middle Temple, and wished to help Britain’s war effort against Germany by joining the Royal Air Force; unfortunately ill health excluded him from being considered. Jay was a highly intelligent and ambitious man, and his young bride Sajjankunver proved to be his biggest asset and a great source of strength, and supported fully his meteoric career path, from being appointed a Judge, a Settlement Commissioner, to being based in 1954 in Saigon (Vietnam) as Political Adviser to the International Commission for Supervision and Control in IndoChina, established under the Geneva Accord. The constant travel and changes of location was disruptive for their two sons, Jaydevsinh and Mayurdhwajasinh, and to whom the couple were devoted, and for who they sought stability and an English education. Sajjankunver fully supported Jay in accepting an invitation by successful businessman Meghji Pethraj Shah to migrate to the UK in 1960 and to help him establish as founder director a merchant bank in the City of London, the Meghraj Bank. It was to prove to be the start of a deep friendship between the Shah and Gohel families. The move to London was an entirely new career direction for Jay, and a massive environmental change for Sajjankunver but she continued to exhibit the remarkable ability to not just adapt to all challenges, but enthusiastically become involved in all aspects of her husband’s career and interests, and at the same time provide stability and guidance to their two sons. In London Sajjankunver came to be know by pet name of ‘Sushila’. Jay had multiple interests. He joined the Conservative Party and in his spare time he become involved with public service and supported a number of charities. The couple developed a friendship with the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and most of her Cabinet Ministers. For public service the Queen bestowed on Jay the CBE in 1984, and the Knighthood in 1989. Sir Jay became the first person of Indian origin after Indian independence to receive both the CBE and the Knighthood, and Sajjankunver became the first with the title of ‘Lady’ and with her demise remains the last Rajput with a title. As a daughter of a Rajput nobleman,
Leading Lights
by Rani Singh
Special Assignments Editor
Amman Ahmed, 25 Amman Ahmed is the founder of a7records, an online ethical record label. He studied Information Systems Engineering at the University of Manchester. He had a one year placement at Hewlett-Packard as a project manager in Reading, and was a recruitment consultant in Manchester. Amman is a Virgin Media Pioneer - part of a free and open online peer-to peer community for young entrepreneurs. What is your family background? My family is from Lahore, Pakistan. I was born and schooled in Leeds.
Lady Gohel was a tall, elegant distinguished person, with disarming charm and unique, polite, manners which she always so effortlessly showed to everyone. She inspired enormous affection and loyalty, and even in her 90s she never missed an opportunity to show love and affection to those whom she had known and valued. She inspired genuine respect and love. Lady Gohel’s funeral on Sunday 8 July was very well attended, by young and old, and despite the short notice and bad weather. It was a mark of the affection she was held in that the eulogy at her funeral was led by Mr Anant M P Shah, who gave a glowing tribute to the personal achievements of Sajjankunver, and together with him three of the pall bearers Madhoobhai Mehta, Aroonbhai Ajmera, Rajubhai Shah - were also members of the family of Meghji Pethraj Shah. Her grandson, Dr Sajjansinh Gohel was the fifth pall bearer, and Lord Popat of Harrow the sixth. In his comments at the funeral, Lord Popat credited the Gohel’s for encouraging him to get involved in politics, stating that ‘Being a Member of the House of Lords is a fascinating and humbling lifestyle, but I would have never made it there without the help and teachings of the Gohel’s all those years ago.’ Mr C B Patel, Publisher/Editor of Asian Voice, an old family friend delivered a moving eulogy. He added Mrs Gohel’s son has been a world famous commentator on terrorism and was widely acknowledged. Dr Gohel gave an emotional and deeply touching dedication to his beloved grandmother, whom he was named after in her honour. Although she and Jay formed a formidable partnership, in many ways Lady Gohel had become an institution in her own right; a fountainhead for the Gohel family, the Guajarati community and for Rajputs. She was a true warrior. At once invincible, somehow timeless, her love and warm embrace was able to span the generations along with being wise, elegant, and with great spirit. We will deeply mourn the loss of Lady Gohel but it’s important to remember that that a light that bright does not dim as soon as the person is gone. We all will remember Lady Gohel and the beautiful life she led.
Jewellery shop reopens after robbery A jewellery shop which was raided by armed robbers has reopened after three months. Asha, at Seven Kings, was robbed in April by five men wielding baseball bats and a sledgehammer who made off with thousands of pounds of jewellery. Raj Sadheura, whose mother Asha owns the shop, had gone to drop off his son to a French lesson when the men smashed their way into the shop in High Road. The robbers are yet to be caught.
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Mr Sadheura told a local paper: “I felt really bad as my parents were there and I wasn’t.I got a phone call from a friend saying something is happening in the shop and that’s how I found out, I put my foot on the gas and got back, by that time the police were outside.” The family have been working in the jewellery industry for more than 25 years and despite the robbery they have not considered closing the shop or moving away.
How have Virgin Media Pioneers been useful? They have been great. They took me to Johannesburg to build some international business contacts and meet Sir Richard Branson; I met him again in Liverpool at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress; and they also invited me to Parliament. They have supported me to get media attention in the Times, Live Mint/Wall Street Journal, Manchester Evening News and many more. They always get me involved in events and help me make the right connections to grow my business. The network is a good way to learn from others who are on a similar journey in business. How did you come up with the idea for your label? I was inspired to start a business when I read a book called “The Four Hour Work Week”. I wanted to start a business but was faced with the typical excuses. This book was a turning point for me and I just went with my gut feeling to give it a shot. I scribbled down a number of ideas until I came up with sleep music as a business. I researched the technology behind the music and the concepts and took a risk with just £2000 of my own student loan money. Tell me about your work. We are an ethical record label, working
with artists from third world countries. After 12 million views on YouTube, we are now an advertising partner. We sell on iTunes and also have other revenue streams that we share with the artists. It allows them to get recognised and also earn money from their talent. On the flip side we create music with a solution using specific types of sound technology for each of our many brands. For example the EasySleepMusic section uses binaural beat, which is a sleep-inducing sound wave that helps relax the brainwaves. Another example is RelaxMyDog, which uses sound sweep technology. This is a high to low frequency sound that is done in a short burst to grab the dog’s attention. It is designed to focus them on the music that follows which helps soothes them.
We are an ethical record label, working with artists from third world countries When was your breakthrough? My journey has all been about turning in business. First it was music to help people sleep which then turned into a record label and now it’s turning into something even bigger. I think the breakthrough moment hit me back in October. The idea came to me to turn it into an ethical record label and I just grew it from there. I knew this model could turn into something big. What has been your biggest challenge? I would say hitting a ceiling. What I mean by that is, at first, it was
Amman Ahmed
EasySleepMusic, which could only grow to a certain extent. So I was trying to find something that can grow but also be able to relate that to my current business. I guess when you build a house, the foundations need to be strong to support building onto them. A7records turned out to be the perfect way to continue the growth of my business. How much do you listen to your own music, in order to relax? I listen to my concentration music a lot as it helps me get into the zone and makes me really focus on my work. I listen to my relaxing music when I have five minutes of meditation every two hours throughout my workday. Five minutes of turning off all thoughts while listening to this relaxing music really does help me with my working day and to focus. What are your plans for the future? I plan to continue growing the record label. It will now attach onto a bigger concept in which I hope make an impact on the discovery of unsigned artists. I am in the process of seeking growth investment so I can get a team behind me to expand.
HFB elects new committee The Hindu Forum of Britain the largest representative body for British Hindus with over 420 member organisations from different regions around the country. HFB’s activities are divided into three areas: public affairs and community consultation; capacity building and project development; and interfaith co-operation and relations to help build a strong and inclu-
sive Britain. The HFB recently held elections. The Chief Guest was Baroness Sandip Verma, and the independent observer was Mr Ashok Verma, President of Global Punjabi society. Mr Arjan Vekaria continues as the President, while Ms Bharti Tailor continues as the Secretary too. The treasurer is Mr Swaminathan V
Vaidyanathan, Vice President North- Trupti Patel, VP South- Mr Madhava Turumella, NEC members are Mr Bhasker Rughani, Mr Dinesh Chothani, Mr Jitubhai C Mistry, Mr Kartik Mehta, Mr Ramesh Pattni, Mr Sanjay Gadhavi, Mr Shravan Joshi, Mr Sumanrai Desai, Mr Velji Vekaria, Mrs Harsha Tricedi and Mrs Jasuben Mistry.