Amir Chagpar, 1941-2021

In 1902, my father’s grandfather Abdullah Chagpar, sailed from his small village in Kutch on the west coast of India to settle on the island of Zanzibar. His adventure changed the trajectory of our family’s history. My father grew up on the mainland of Tangankia (now Tanzania) in the 1940’s. Walking home from school in his pressed white shirt and shorts, the magnetic pull of the Indian ocean, was too strong to resist. Knowing that he would have to answer for his dirty wrinkled clothes when he got home, he would swim and be held by the waves with the view of the Maasai plains and giraffes in the distance, anyways. Later he would cross the Indian ocean to attend university in Bombay where he used his charms to convince the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, to marry him, in an unprecedented for the times, “love marriage”. They travelled back to Dar-es-Salam but left again to skip the draft and landed in Toronto in 1969. Much to my mother’s dismay, my father, in his deep desire for connection would attempt to start conversations with _everyone_ he came across. Often crossing the street to greet the rare person of colour he saw, he would run through the languages he knew, Swahili, Hindi, Tagalog and others until he was able to get answers to his questions “Where are you from?! When did you get here?! He made friends easily, because people were attracted to his light hearted love of life, and his ability to deeply question and share in its mysteries. He was a loyal son, protective brother to his 3 sisters, doting grandfather, and an unconditionally supportive father that was both one of my best teachers and best friends. I’m so grateful that I was part of your adventure here dad. Wishing you so much love on your next one.