A training ground for generations of secretaries and stenos is no more

For decades, the Sir JJ College of Commerce in Mumbai’s Fort precinct trained secretaries and stenographers for the offices of corporate companies in the area. With the recent demolition of the building that housed it, the institute, which witnessed the era of typewriters giving way to computers, has ended its seven-decadelong existence.

Dhun Building on Nanabhoy Lane, which had housed the seven-decade-old institute, has been demolished by its landlords – the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) – after it was declared dangerous by the municipal corporation.

The institute was started in 1952 by the BPP, the apex community trust of Mumbai’s Parsi-Zoroastrian community, as a centre to train young women in office administration. “Originally it was only for typing classes. We added other subjects later,” said Homi Mehta, former honorary director of the institute, who now lives in Pune. Mehta took over the management of the institute after the passing away of his wife Homai who had worked as a secretary with the Tata group.

Before its formal beginnings as a typing school, the institute had its beginnings in 1914 when the Sir Jamsetji Jejeebhoy Parsi Benevolent Institution Commercial Classes was established. The institute’s benefactors included typewriter manufacturers Godrej and Boyce which donated typewriters and started the Godrej Typing Wing in the 1970s. To keep up with the changes in technology, the institute added the S B Bhabha Computer wing a few decades later.

A city resident whose father had worked as a stenographer in a local firm said that apart from Davar’s College of Commerce, which is located nearby, Sir JJ College of Commerce was a coveted place to acquire skills as typists, stenographers and office assistants.

Noshir Dadrawala, former BPP trustee and a writer on Parsi-Zoroastrian community matters, said, “It was started when there were very limited opportunities for women who wanted to work. One option for women was secretarial work and one of the reasons why the institute was set up was for this,” said Dadrawala.

However, after the death of Homai Mehta and the decline in the demand for typewriting and shorthand courses, the institute curtailed the number of courses it offered.