Gulam Noon's good deeds keep him alive in his hometown

JAIPUR: In December 2003, when Gulam Kaderbhoy Noon reached his hometown in Bhawani Mandi in Jhalawar district with his petite wife Lady Mohini Kent, the whole city turned up at the Bhawani Mandi railway station to greet them. It was a special occasion as Gulam Bhai, as he was affectionately called, had come to his ancestral town after being knighted by the Queen of Britain.It was a re-enactment of 'To Sir With Love'. The same town mourned his death as he was laid to rest in London on Wednesday.
His father Kaderbhoy, a Dawoodi Bohra, moved from Sunail, a small town near Bhawani Mandi to Mumbai to run the family's business of selling sweets. Gulam Noon was born in 1936 and his mother chose the nickname for him. He was Noon to family and friends. Noon lost his father when he was just eight. Noon's father's death was mourned by the people of Bhawani Mandi and Sunail, as the family has done enough for the people there.
Noon joined business in 1950 and by 1962 he was able to establish Royal Sweets as a brand in Mumbai. He decided to go to United Kingdom and open a branch of Royal Sweets there. His customers were Indian Africans who had come from Kenya and Uganda. He was helped by an old friend Taherbhai Suerwala. He set up Royal Sweet factory in London and later diversified his business to become the frozen food king of United Kingdom.
Sir Gulam, who was a known supporter of the Labour Party in England and was a personal friend of the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, was given this highest British civil award for his contribution to its industry. Sir Gulam, who has set up a Pound Sterling 90 million business of frozen food, is rated among the richest Indians of Britain. His name features among UK's maharajas. Noon was the first non-white male to become the president of the London Chamber of Commerce.
Yet, he would visit Sunail and Bhawani Mandi every year in December. His visits to the hometown brought some kind of a relief for its people as he would shell out couple of lakhs as charity for the welfare of the town of his ancestors. This includes a recreation hall in Bhawani Mandi built by Noon in 2002, a dharamshala and the community hall for the Harijans, apart from a hospital and a dispensary already built by him. In 2003, he made the longest stay in his hometown for six days to supervise the building of the hospital there. His grandfather built a hospital at Sunail and in Bhawani Mandi way back in 1882. Noon also built a multipurpose community hall for the Harijans with a library.
He also built an Ayurvedic hospital at Sunail. "When the district administration brought to his notice that the district hospital at Jhalawar lacks a sonography machine, he promptly equipped it with the machine," informed former MLA, Man Singh. Noon Foundation established by him had a major donation fund of Pound Sterling four million, which supports various causes, both in UK and India.
Sir Gulam pledged with CARE International, of which he was the director, for a much needed water and sanitation project at Sunail. So when Sunail, which once used to receive the second highest rainfall in the entire state faced an acute shortage of drinking water, the help provided by Noon solved the drinking water problem of Sunail. Sir Gulam established a multi-speciality hospital in Bhawani Mandi - Noon Hospital & Research Centre - in 2008, and since its inception it has been working mainly on charitable basis. This hospital and various other projects started by him would remain as a testimony of a person who loved his natives.