Behram Contractor

Behram Contractor (1930 – 9 April 2001), popularly known as Busybee, was an Indian journalist, humorist, and the founding editor of The Afternoon Despatch & Courier, a weekly that was published in Mumbai between 1985 and 2019.

## Humorist

[edit]

A tribute paid to him online says: "In the history of Indian journalism, there will never be another humorist like Busybee; he was the Art Buchwald of India, the P.G. Wodehouse of our times and more, a writer with a brilliant sense of timing for satire and humour, but with a soft and sensitive pen. And with a flow of words that could have readers rolling in their living rooms, offices and suburban trains on their way home; or moist-eyed with emotion and sepia-tinged nostalgia. That was Busybee." (About Busybee)

## Career

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A prolific and popular writer, Contractor worked at The Free Press Journal, The Times of India (Bombay), and Mid-Day before founding his own newspaper The Afternoon Despatch and Courier (better known as Afternoon) in 1985. He wrote a great deal about his distinctive Parsi heritage, customs and food.[1]

## Column, as Busybee

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Contractor continued to write articles for the Times of India and the Midday under the pen name Busybee even while serving as editor of his own paper, and wrote the column Round and About.

## Food writer

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Contractor also wrote the series "Eating Out," which featured one of the best Mumbai restaurants, giving a glimpse of many Indian and international cuisines. Described as "the first food writer of the country," Contractor also served as the editor of UpperCrust, a publication that honored him with 50 quotations.

## Awards, etc.

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He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1990,[2] and the Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism in 1996.

## Book

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In 1998, Contractor published From Bombay to Mumbai, a collection of the best of Busybee's columns from 1996 and 1997.

## Personal life

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He was a Parsi.[3]

In 1985, the "almost confirmed bachelor", as his wife-to-be described him later, married Farzana Contractor, also a journalist.[4] Behram Contractor died in 2001 from a heart attack.

## Afternoon Despatch & Courier

[edit]

Main article: Afternoon Despatch & Courier

Writing about the newspaper he founded in 1985, his wife Farzana Contractor has commented that she "was among the three reasons that prompted the famous Behram Contractor to launch [The] Afternoon.[5] She recalled the early days of the launch as being tough times.

The paper proprietor Kamal Morarka when it was shut.[5]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Farzana Contractor, Busybee (21 July 2019). "The newspaper that Behram Contractor aka Busybee started has closed down. His writings remain alive". Scroll.in. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
2. ^ "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
3. ^ Sen, Colleen Taylor (15 November 2014). Feasts and Fasts: A History of Food in India. Reaktion Books. p. 288\. ISBN 978-1-78023-391-8.
4. ^ "The newspaper that Behram Contractor aka Busybee started has closed down. His writings remain alive". Scroll.in. 21 July 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
5. ^ a b "Sun sets on Afternoon". Mumbai Mirror. 20 July 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2020.

* "Busybee Behram (obituary)". The Tribune. India. 21 April 2001. Retrieved 8 October 2018.

Authority control databases

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National|

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Recipients of Padma Shri in Literature & Education

1950s|

* K. Shankar Pillai (1954)
* Krishna Kanta Handique (1955)
* Surya Kumar Bhuyan (1956)
* Sukhdev Pande (1956)
* Nalini Bala Devi (1957)
* S. R. Ranganathan (1957)
* Ram Chandra Varma (1958)
* Magan Lal Tribhuvandas Vyas (1958)
* K. S. Chandrasekharan (1958)

1960s|

* B. S. Kesavan (1960)
* Artaballabha Mohanty (1960)
* N. D. Sundaravadivelu (1961)
* Vinayaka Krishna Gokak (1961)
* Vishnukant Jha (1961)
* Jinvijay (1961)
* Evengeline Lazarus (1961)

1970s|

* Ananda Chandra Barua (1970)
* Sulabha Panandikar (1971)

1980s|

* Krishan Dutta Bharadwaj (1981)
* Abid Ali Khan (1981)
* Ram Punjwani (1981)
* Vaikom Muhammad Basheer (1982)
* R. V. Pandit (1982)
* Sher Singh Sher (1982)
* Gaura Pant Shivani (1982)
* Ahalya Chari (1983)
* Amitabha Chaudhuri (1983)
* Saliha Abid Hussain (1983)
* Komal Kothari (1983)
* Hundraj Lial Ram Dukhayal Manik (1983)
* Raghuvir Sharan Mitra (1983)
* Attar Singh (1983)
* Mayangnokcha Ao (1984)
* Kshem Suman Chandra (1984)
* Lakshmi Kumari Chundawat (1984)
* Shanta Gandhi (1984)
* Sadhu Singh Hamdard (1984)
* Qurratulain Hyder (1984)
* Ganpatrao Jadhav (1984)
* Syed Abdul Malik (1984)
* John Arthur King Martyn (1984)
* Sooranad Kunjan Pillai (1984)
* Syed Hasan Askari (1985)
* Jamesh Dokhuma (1985)
* Kaka Hathrasi (1985)
* Bharat Mishra (1985)
* Harishankar Parsai (1985)
* Ashangbam Minaketan Singh (1985)
* Anil Agarwal (1986)
* Binod Kanungo (1986)
* Chitra Naik (1986)
* Abdur Rahman (1986)
* Nuchhungi Renthlei (1986)
* Raghunath Sharma (1986)
* Abdul Sattar (1987)
* Nazir Ahmed (1987)
* Vanaja Iyengar (1987)
* Khawlkungi (1987)
* Badri Narayan (1987)
* Debi Prasanna Pattanayak (1987)
* Sant Singh Sekhon (1987)
* N. Khelchandra Singh (1987)
* Madaram Brahma (1988)
* Nissim Ezekiel (1988)
* K. M. George (1988)
* Mario Miranda (1988)
* Vidya Niwas Mishra (1988)
* Ali Jawad Zaidi (1988)
* Kalim Aajiz (1989)
* Barsane Lal Chaturvedi (1989)
* Anita Desai (1989)
* Moti Lal Saqi (1989)
* Rongbong Terang (1989)
* V. Venkatachalam (1989)

1990s|

* M. Aram (1990)
* Vijay Kumar Chopra (1990)
* Behram Contractor (1990)
* Radha Mohan Gadanayak (1990)
* Madhav Yeshwant Gadkari (1990)
* Yashpal Jain (1990)
* Sharad Joshi (1990)
* Kanhiyalal Prabhakar Mishra (1990)
* Gopi Chand Narang (1990)
* Dagdu Maruti Pawar (1990)
* Nilmani Phookan Jr (1990)
* Shyam Singh Shashi (1990)
* Ram Nath Shastri (1990)
* Bharat Bhushan (yogi) (1991)
* Kapil Deva Dvivedi (1991)
* B. K. S. Iyengar (1991)
* Satish Chandra Kakati (1991)
* Vishnu Bhikaji Kolte (1991)
* Madan Lal Madhu (1991)
* Namdeo Dhondo Mahanor (1991)
* Keshav Malik (1991)
* Surendra Mohanty (1991)
* P. T. Narasimhachar (1991)
* V. G. Bhide (1992)
* Gulabdas Broker (1992)
* Krishna Chaithanya (1992)
* Rajammal P. Devadas (1992)
* Vasant Shankar Kanetkar (1992)
* V. C. Kulandaiswamy (1992)
* R. S. Lugani (1992)
* Shovana Narayan (1992)
* Nisith Ranjan Ray (1992)
* M. Kirti Singh (1992)
* B. K. Thapar (1992)
* Mark Tully (1992)
* B. N. Goswamy (1998)
* O. N. V. Kurup (1998)
* Lalsangzuali Sailo (1998)
* Gurdial Singh (1998)
* Narayan Gangaram Surve (1998)
* Ruskin Bond (1999)
* Shayama Chona (1999)
* G. P. Chopra (1999)
* Namdeo Dhasal (1999)
* Kanhaiya Lal Nandan (1999)
* Satya Vrat Shastri (1999)
* Rajkumar Jhalajit Singh (1999)

2000s|

* Grigoriy Lvovitch Bondarevsky (2000)
* P. S. Chawngthu (2000)
* Piloo Nowshir Jungalwalla (2000)
* Mandan Mishra (2000)
* Rehman Rahi (2000)
* K. P. Saxena (2000)
* Nabaneeta Dev Sen (2000)
* Elangbam Nilakanta Singh (2000)
* Bala V. Balachandran (2001)
* Jeelani Bano (2001)
* Manoj Das (2001)
* Javare Gowda (2001)
* Chandrashekhara Kambara (2001)
* Gnanananda Kavi (2001)
* Kumar Ketkar (2001)
* Ravindra Kumar (2001)
* Kalidas Gupta Riza (2001)
* Padma Sachdev (2001)
* Bhabendra Nath Saikia (2001)
* Vachnesh Tripathi (2001)
* Munirathna Anandakrishnan (2002)
* Gopal Chhotray (2002)
* Gyan Chand Jain (2002)
* Madhu Mangesh Karnik (2002)
* Ashok Ramchandra Kelkar (2002)
* V. K. Madhavan Kutty (2002)
* Turlapaty Kutumba Rao (2002)
* Kim Yang-shik (2002)
* Manzoor Ahtesham (2003)
* Jagdish Chaturvedi (2003)
* Motilal Jotwani (2003)
* Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad (2003)
* Tekkatte Narayan Shanbhag (2003)
* Shailendra Nath Shrivastava (2003)
* Pritam Singh (2003)
* Vairamuthu (2003)
* Hamlet Bareh (2004)
* Kumarpal Desai (2004)
* Tatyana Elizarenkova (2004)
* Anil Kumar Gupta (2004)
* Gowri Ishwaran (2004)
* Leeladhar Jagudi (2004)
* Sunita Jain (2004)
* Prithvi Nath Kaula (2004)
* Ayyappa Paniker (2004)
* P. Parameswaran (2004)
* Bal Samant (2004)
* Kanhaiyalal Sethia (2004)
* Ramesh Chandra Shah (2004)
* Heinrich von Stietencron (2004)
* Sudhir Tailang (2004)
* Dalip Kaur Tiwana (2004)
* Amiya Kumar Bagchi (2005)
* Shobhana Bhartia (2005)
* Manas Chaudhuri (2005)
* Darchhawna (2005)
* J. S. Grewal (2005)
* Amin Kamil (2005)
* Gadul Singh Lama (2005)
* Mammen Mathew (2005)
* S. B. Mujumdar (2005)
* Bilat Paswan Vihangam (2005)
* Ajeet Cour (2006)
* Sucheta Dalal (2006)
* Laltluangliana Khiangte (2006)
* Lothar Lutze (2006)
* Mrinal Pande (2006)
* Sugathakumari (2006)
* Sitanshu Yashaschandra (2006)
* Temsüla Ao (2007)
* Vijaydan Detha (2007)
* Bakul Harshadrai Dholakia (2007)
* Amitav Ghosh (2007)
* Meenakshi Gopinath (2007)
* Giriraj Kishore (2007)
* Shekhar Pathak (2007)
* Pratibha Ray (2007)
* Rostislav Rybakov (2007)
* Vikram Seth (2007)
* Vaali (2007)
* Sivanthi Adithan (2008)
* Bina Agarwal (2008)
* Vellayani Arjunan (2008)
* Nirupam Bajpai (2008)
* Surjya Kanta Hazarika (2008)
* Vinod Dua (2008)
* M. Leelavathy (2008)
* Amitabh Mattoo (2008)
* Bholabhai Patel (2008)
* Rajdeep Sardesai (2008)
* Sukhadeo Thorat (2008)
* Srinibash Udgata (2008)
* Suresh Gundu Amonkar
* Abhay Chhajlani
* Birendra Nath Datta
* Shashi Deshpande
* Bannanje Govindacharya
* Panchapakesa Jayaraman
* Mathoor Krishnamurty
* Jayanta Mahapatra
* Laxman Mane
* John Ralston Marr
* Alok Mehta
* A. Sankara Reddy
* Lalthangfala Sailo
* Ngawang Samten
* Ranbir Chander Sobti
* Ram Shankar Tripathi

2010s|

* Lalzuia Colney (2010)
* Maria Aurora Couto (2010)
* Romuald D'Souza (2010)
* Bertha Gyndykes Dkhar (2010)
* Surendra Dubey (2010)
* Sadiq-ur-Rahman Kidwai (2010)
* Hermann Kulke (2010)
* Ramaranjan Mukherji (2010)
* Govind Chandra Pande (2010)
* Mrs YGP (2010)
* Sheldon Pollock (2010)
* Arun Sarma (2010)
* Jitendra Udhampuri (2010)
* Granville Austin (2011)
* Mahim Bora (2011)
* Urvashi Butalia (2011)
* Pullella Sriramachandrudu (2011)
* Mamang Dai (2011)
* Pravin Darji (2011)
* Chandra Prakash Deval (2011)
* Deviprasad Dwivedi (2011)
* Balraj Komal (2011)
* Krishna Kumar (2011)
* Rajni Kumar (2011)
* Devanur Mahadeva (2011)
* Barun Mazumder (2011)
* Ritu Menon (2011)
* Avvai Natarajan (2011)
* Bhalchandra Nemade (2011)
* Karl Harrington Potter (2011)
* Koneru Ramakrishna Rao (2011)
* Devi Dutt Sharma (2011)
* Nilamber Dev Sharma (2011)
* Geeta Dharmarajan (2012)
* Eberhard Fischer (2012)
* Kedar Gurung (2012)
* Surjit Patar (2012)
* Sachchidanand Sahai (2012)
* Allan Sealy (2012)
* Pepita Seth (2012)
* Vijay Dutt Shridhar (2012)
* Ralte L. Thanmawia (2012)
* Anvita Abbi (2013)
* Nida Fazli (2013)
* Radhika Herzberger (2013)
* Noboru Karashima (2013)
* Salik Lucknawi (2013)
* J. Malsawma (2013)
* Devendra Patel (2013)
* Christopher Pinney (2013)
* Mohammad Sharaf-e-Alam (2013)
* Rama Kant Shukla (2013)
* Jagdish Prasad Singh (2013)
* Akhtarul Wasey (2013)
* Naheed Abidi (2014)
* Ashok Chakradhar (2014)
* Keki N. Daruwalla (2014)
* G. N. Devy (2014)
* Kolakaluri Enoch (2014)
* Ved Kumari Ghai (2014)
* Manorama Jafa (2014)
* Rehana Khatoon (2014)
* P. Kilemsungla (2014)
* Sengaku Mayeda (2014)
* Waikhom Gojen Meitei (2014)
* Vishnunarayanan Namboothiri (2014)
* Dinesh Singh (2014)
* Huang Baosheng (2015)
* Bettina Bäumer (2015)
* Lakshmi Nandan Bora (2015)
* Jean-Claude Carrière (2015)
* Gyan Chaturvedi (2015)
* Raj Chetty (2015)
* Bibek Debroy (2015)
* Ashok Gulati (2015)
* George L. Hart (2015)
* Sunil Jogi (2015)
* Usha Kiran Khan (2015)
* Narayana Purushothama Mallaya (2015)
* Lambert Mascarenhas (2015)
* Taarak Mehta (2015)
* Ram Bahadur Rai (2015)
* J. S. Rajput (2015)
* Bimal Kumar Roy (2015)
* Annette Schmiedchen (2015)
* Gunvant Shah (2015)
* Brahmdev Sharma (2015)
* Dhirendra Nath Bezbaruah (2016)
* S. L. Bhyrappa (2016)
* Kameshwar Brahma (2016)
* Jawahar Lal Kaul (2016)
* Sal Khan (2016)
* Ashok Malik (2016)
* Haldhar Nag (2016)
* Pushpesh Pant (2016)
* Dahyabhai Shastri (2016)
* Prahlad Chandra Tasa (2016)
* Anant Agarwal (2017)
* Eli Ahmed (2017)
* Michel Danino (2017)
* Narendra Kohli (2017)
* Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri (2017)
* Kashi Nath Pandita (2017)
* Vishnu Pandya (2017)
* V. G. Patel (2017)
* H.R. Shah (2017)
* Chamu Krishna Shastry (2017)
* Bhawana Somaaya (2017)
* Punam Suri (2017)
* Harihar Kripalu Tripathi (2017)
* G. Venkatasubbiah (2017)
* Prafulla Govinda Baruah (2018)
* Shyamlal Chaturvedi (2018)
* Arup Kumar Dutta (2018)
* Arvind Gupta (2018)
* Digamber Hansda (2018)
* Anwar Jalalpuri (2018)
* Piyong Temjen Jamir (2018)
* Joyasree Goswami Mahanta (2018)
* Zaverilal Mehta (2018)
* Tomio Mizokami (2018)
* Habibullo Rajabov (2018)
* Vagish Shastri (2018)
* Maharao Raghuveer Singh (2018)
* A Zakia (2018)
* Narsingh Dev Jamwal (2019)
* Nagindas Sanghavi (2019)
* Mohammed Hanif Khan Shastri (2019)
* Devendra Swarup (2019)

2020s|

* Abhiraj Rajendra Mishra (2020)
* Binapani Mohanty (2020)
* Damayanti Beshra (2020)
* H. M. Desai (2020)
* Lil Bahadur Chettri (2020)
* Meenakshi Jain (2020)
* N. Chandrasekharan Nair (2020)
* Narayan Joshi Karayal (2020)
* Prithwindra Mukherjee (2020)
* Robert Thurman (2020)
* S. P. Kothari (2020)
* Shahabuddin Rathod (2020)
* Sudharma (2020)
* Vijayasarathi Sribhashyam (2020)
* Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi (2020)
* Yogesh Praveen (2020)
* Benichandra Jamatia (2020)
* Carlos G. Vallés (2021)
* Dadudan Gadhvi (2021)
* Imran Shah (2021)
* Mangal Singh Hazowary (2021)
* Mridula Sinha (2021)
* Namdeo Kamble (2021)
* Rangasami L. Kashyap (2021)
* Srikant Datar (2021)
* Solomon Pappaiah (2021)
* Asavadi Prakasarao (2021)
* Lalbiakthanga Pachuau (2021)
* Najma Akhtar (2022)
* T Senka Ao (2022)
* J K Bajaj (2022)
* Sirpi Balasubramaniam (2022)
* Akhone Asgar Ali Basharat (2022)
* Harmohinder Singh Bedi (2022)
* Maria Christopher Byrski (2022)
* Khalil Dhantejvi (Posthumous) (2022)
* Dhaneswar Engti (2022)
* Narasimha Rao Garikapati (2022)
* Girdhari Ram Gonjhu (Posthumous) (2022)
* Shaibal Gupta (Posthumous) (2022)
* Narasingha Prasad Guru (2022)
* Avadh Kishore Jadia (2022)
* Tara Jauhar (2022)
* Rutger Kortenhorst (2022)
* P Narayana Kurup (2022)
* V L Nghaka  (2022)
* Chirapat Prapandavidya (2022)
* Vidyanand Sarek (2022)
* Kali Pada Saren (2022)
* Dilip Shahani  (2022)
* Vishwamurti Shastri (2022)
* Tatiana Lvovna Shaumyan (2022)
* Siddhalingaiah (Posthumous) (2022)
* Vidya Vindu Singh (2022)
* Raghuvendra Tanwar (2022)
* Badaplin War (2022)
* Radha Charan Gupta (2023)
* C. I. Issac (2023)
* Rattan Singh Jaggi (2023)
* Anand Kumar (2023)
* Prabhakar Bhanudas Mande (2023)
* Antaryami Mishra (2023)
* Ramesh Patange (2023)
* B. Ramakrishna Reddy (2023)
* Mohan Singh (2023)
* Prakash Chandra Sood (2023)
* Janum Singh Soy (2023)
* Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari (2023)
* Dhaniram Toto (2023)

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