Meheroo Karkaria

Meheroo Karkaria is next on my list. Talookdar Building where she stays was built at the turn of the last century to house needy Parsis. Today the building is in need itself. Most of the tenants have been shifted to a newly constructed complex at Lullanagar. Only the very poor like Meheroo remain. Meheroo is 56, but looks 10 years older. A hernia operation keeps her restricted to the house. She has no income and is dependent on charity. Her husband is dead and so is her daughter. Her son stays elsewhere and works as a TV mechanic. He contributes 50 rupees a week, which goes towards the upkeep of his son whom Meheroo looks after. Her two-room house is cluttered with broken-down appliances, remnants of her son’s work. One TV works though, and with this she passes her time.

Meheroo Karkaria in the kitchen of her home in the dilapidated Talookdar Building on MG Road