Parsis are people who fled from Persia and sought refuge in India. They reached the coast of Gujarat. Rana, the local king, conducted an experiment before granting them shelter. A vessel full of milk was brought and placed in front of the Parsis. It was meant to indicate that there was no more place for anyone else to live here. The refugee leader added a small amount of sugar to the container. The milk did not overspill; in fact, its sweetness increased. The story goes that the Parsi refugees promised to blend in with the Indian people and add sweetness to Indian life. This became true in the future. Parsis have played a huge role in India's economic, technological and academic achievements.

Jamsetji Tata (the founder of Tata), Dadabhai Naoroji (one of the founders of the Indian National Congress), Sam Manekshaw (India's first Field Marshal), Homi J Bhabha (the father of Indian nuclear science) and industrialist Godrej... the list goes on. Among them, Nani Palkiwala and Fali S Nariman are the biggest names in the legal field. Fali S Nariman has passed away after remaining India's most valuable constitutional expert for more than seven decades. He has proved time and again that the Constitution of India is a living book through his interpretations and by winning landmark cases in the top court.

He intervened in India's legal and political affairs and took bold stands against those who ruled even days before he passed away at the age of 95. He did not hesitate to criticize many prominent judgments of the Supreme Court with reason. Nariman became a senior advocate in the Supreme Court in 1971. He became Additional Solicitor General the following year. Following the declaration of emergency on June 26, 1975, he bravely resigned from the post, surprising the political leadership.

Fali S Nariman always maintained a special fondness for Kerala, partly because his mother's ancestors had their family roots in Kozhikode. He argued and won many cases in the Supreme Court for Kerala. Until recently, the Kerala government used to seek Nariman's expert opinion in many cases where it had to clash with the Centre. The only black mark in his legal career was appearing for the Union Carbide Company in the Bhopal gas tragedy case. He later admitted it was a mistake and regretted it. As an atonement, he acted as an arbitrator between the victims' families and the company out of court and was instrumental in winning victims $470 million in damages. With the demise of Nariman, we have lost a jurist who did justice to conscience beyond the law.