(Posting – Temporary, Integrity – Permanent)
Dear Readers,
Something wonderfully strange is happening in Mumbai. A government officer is doing his job. Firmly, fearlessly and without appearing intimidated by famous names, powerful businesses or celebrity status. And Mumbai, almost unable to believe its eyes, has rightly hailed Tukaram Mundhe as a hero.
Since taking charge as Maharashtra’s FDA Commissioner in May this year, Mundhe has spearheaded hundreds of inspections across restaurants, dairies, hotels and food businesses, taking action over alleged hygiene and safety violations. Even Bollywood has felt the heat, with Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff receiving notices concerning alleged surrogate advertising. Mundhe’s response to his newfound fame is wonderfully uncomplicated: he says he is simply a Food Safety Commissioner doing his job.
Now there’s a revolutionary concept! Of course, us Parsis initially became suspicious. When K Rustom & Co. and then our beloved 110-year-old Parsi Dairy Farm faced licence suspensions, somewhere between our ice-cream sandwich and mawa-ni-boi loyalties, the collective Bawa eyebrow went up: “Aapri paachhal kai paryoj?”
Then he went after everybody. Big restaurants, dairies, food chains, warehouses, manufacturers and even celebrity endorsers entered the regulatory spotlight. Our paranoia relaxed. Mundhe wasn’t anti-Bawa. Mundhe is simply anti-filth, anti-adulteration and rather inconveniently, pro-rules!
There have, importantly, been questions over procedure. The Bombay High Court has stayed or reversed some immediate suspensions, while the restaurant industry has supported strict food-safety enforcement but called for transparent and predictable due process. That balance matters. Righteousness cannot mean arbitrariness.
But what makes Mundhe’s story compelling is his persistence. Reports say he has been transferred an extraordinary 25 times in 21 years. Yet the man appears remarkably transfer-proof in spirit. Change the chair, change the department, change the address, but apparently the operating system remains stubbornly intact. Twenty-five transfers, Zero compromises; Posting – temporary, Integrity – permanent!
There’s something deeply Zoroastrian about that. Asha teaches us about Truth, Righteousness and Order, but its real worth lies in living it. Good Thoughts and Good Words ultimately demand Good Deeds. Integrity is easy when nothing is at stake. Character reveals itself when doing the right thing becomes inconvenient. Perhaps that explains why Mumbai is cheering Mundhe from the pit of its collective stomach.
We have become so accustomed to celebrating extraordinary achievements that we seem astonished by ordinary duty performed extraordinarily well. And therein lies the larger hope. India does not need thousands of Tukaram Mundhes to become celebrities. It needs thousands of people just like you and I, across public office and private enterprise, simply doing the jobs entrusted to them with honesty, with integrity, without compromise.
May his tribe increase! And meanwhile, my dear Bawas and Bawis, keep your kitchens clean! Tukarambhai is watching!
Have a lovely weekend!
– Anahita
- Of Teachers, Life And Lessons - 5 September2026
- 25 Transfers, 0 Compromises. - 29 August2026
- Never Too Old To Lose A Parent - 22 August2026
