The Indian architectural fraternity owes much to the architect-turned-politician Piloo Mody, who spearheaded the passing of an important Bill in the Parliament that enabled the Architects Act of 1972. The Act provides for the registration of architects and overlooks their roles and responsibilities. Besides, it streamlines architecture education to produce excellent and responsible architects. The status of the profession of architecture in India today is all due to the foresightedness of visionary architect and politician Piloo Mody. On behalf of all architects, the author pays rich tribute to Piloo Mody on his 97th birth anniversary, which falls on 14 November 2023.

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An Ode to PILOO MODY:
The Architect of Architects Act & Humorous Lawmaker
by Sarbjit Singh Bahga

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An Ode to PILOO MODY:
The Architect of Architects Act & Humorous Lawmaker
by Sarbjit Singh Bahga
The Indian architectural fraternity owes much to
the architect-turned-politician Piloo Mody, who
spearheaded the passing of an important Bill in the
Parliament that enabled the Architects Act of 1972.
The Act provides for the registration of architects
and overlooks their roles and responsibilities.
Besides, it streamlines architecture education to
produce excellent and responsible architects. The
status of the profession of architecture in India
today is all due to the foresightedness of visionary
architect and politician Piloo Mody. On behalf of
all architects, the author pays rich tribute to Piloo
Mody on his 97th
birth anniversary, which falls on
14 November 2023.
Piloo Mody (14 November 1926 – 29 January
1983) was elected to the 4th
and 5th
Lok Sabha and
served in the Rajya Sabha from 1978 until he died
in 1983. An advocate of liberalism and freedom,
Piloo Mody was a founding member and Executive
Vice-President of the Swatantra Party. He also
served as Vice-President of the Indian Institute of
Architects and Member of the Board of Governors,
School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi,
and Committee of the All-India Board of Technical
Education on Architecture and Regional Planning.
Born in an affluent Parsi family, Piloo Mody studied
at the Doon School, Dehradun. After that, he
studied architecture at Sir J.J. College of
Architecture, Bombay (now Mumbai), and
completed his Bachelor of Architecture. For a
master's degree in architecture, Mody attended
the University of California, Berkeley, USA. After
completing his studies, he married Lavina Colgan,
a Swiss-born-American and his classmate at
Berkeley, on 3 January 1953.
After his stint in the USA, Piloo Mody returned to
India and worked on the Capital Project of
Chandigarh for two years. Then Mody and his wife
Lavina Colgan established their architectural
practice under the name 'Mody and Colgan' with
headquarters at Stadium House, Veer Nariman
Road, Churchgate, Bombay (Mumbai). The
husband-wife duo of Piloo Mody and Lavina
Colgan designed several outstanding buildings
and complexes in the 1950s and 1960s.
Piloo Mody in a meeting.
Piloo Mody and his wife Lavina Colgan.

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Some of their prominent projects include the
headquarters of Engineering Construction
Corporation at Chennai, residential apartments for
senior officials of TISCO, another residential
complex, Olympus, three office buildings for
TELCO, Headquarters of Bharat Bijlee, Mukand
Iron and Steel, Sandoz, Voltas’ Diners Club and
Business Service Centres. Another significant
building that Piloo Mody designed in collaboration
with Durga Bajpai is the Oberoi Hotel in New
Delhi. The design of this hotel, with well-integrated
services and the structure of precast concrete
beams, slabs, louvers, and balcony railings, was in
sync with the international style of architecture. Of
these, the Headquarters of Engineering
Construction Corporation was conferred with the
Fédération Internationale de la Précontrainte award
for excellence in pre-stressed concrete.
A thorough perusal of Piloo Mody’s architectural
works reveals that he was ahead of his time, very
meticulous, practical, curious, and always eager to
use innovative technology.
HUMOUR IN THE PARLIAMENT
Besides his professional pursuits, Piloo Mody was
known for his constant use of wit and humour in his
parliamentary speeches. Due to his conservative
and pro-American views, Mody was often accused
by the members of the ruling Congress Party of
being a "Washington parrot." To counter that,
once he came to the House wearing a placard
reading "I am a CIA agent." The Chairman ordered
him to remove it. He did so, remarking, "I am no
longer a CIA agent."
Once, during a debate, JC Jain, a member of the
ruling party, started needling Piloo Mody. He lost
his temper and shouted at Jain, "Stop Barking."
Jain was up, yelling and pleading with the Chair,
"Sir, he is calling me a dog. It is unparliamentary
language." Chairman Hidayatullah agreed and
ordered, "This will not go on record." Not to be
outdone, Piloo Mody corrected himself by saying,
"All right then, stop braying." Jain did not know
what the word implied, and it stayed on record.
Headquarters of Engineering Construction Corporation, Chennai.
TISCO Apartments.
Oberoi Hotel, New Delhi.

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On another occasion, Piloo Mody, while listening
to a speech by a minister in the Parliament, felt
outraged at some point. A plump and heavy man,
Mody stood up and showed his back to the
minister. That was his way of insulting the minister.
When the minister complained to the speaker, he
asked Mody if, indeed, he had shown his back to
the minister and thereby insulted the House. Mody
stood up again and told the speaker to look at him
before telling him, "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have no
front, no back, no flanks. I am round all over. So
how could I have shown my back to the minister?"
The House exploded in loud laughter, and the
matter died down.
When Piloo Mody expressed dissatisfaction over
the reported export of 15,000 tons of sugar, the
minister Rao Birender Singh replied, "The quantity
of 15,000 tons, Mr. Mody, compared to your size,
is very small." Piloo Mody humorously replied,
“Several things compared to my size are very small,
including you.”
Once, a minister, while replying to a hot argument,
said, "I am not supposed to respond to every
barking dog." Then Piloo Mody rose to speak and
said," Speaker, Sir, on the Treasury benches, we
have great people sitting, pillars of the
government, pillars of democracy. And, we are
dogs, and everyone knows how a dog treats a
pillar." The House busted in laughter.
When Giani Zail Singh, as Home Minister, was
piloting a bill in the Rajya Sabha, Piloo Mody, a
member of the House, participated in the debate.
While replying to the debate, Gianiji, referring to
Piloo Mody's comments on the Bill, stated in Hindi,
“Piloo Mody to bade seasonal member hain.” The
whole House started laughing. Another minister,
sitting next to Gianiji, whispered to him to say that
the word is "seasoned." Thereupon Gianiji again
said, ”Mujhe to angrezi thodi aati hai. Inko to inki
biwi ne anrezi padhai hai.” Piloo Mody thumped
his desk and raised a point of order. The whole
House was looking at Piloo Mody. The Deputy
Chairman asked, “What is your point of order?”
Piloo Mody stated, “Gianiji is grossly misinformed.
My wife did not teach me English. I taught her
English.” The whole House busted into laughter
again. Piloo Mody’s wife was a Swiss.
Similarly, once, there was a debate in Parliament
about the import of railway tracks and wagons for
quick replacement. Indradeep Sinha – an
opposition member, believed these should be
Piloo Mody - a very learned Parliamentarian.
Piloo Mody - a pencil sketch by Sarbjit Bahga.

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manufactured locally instead of importing because
it caused delays. Piloo Mody interrupted to say that
the delay was caused not by importing it but by
manufacturing it. Sinha replied to Piloo Mody,
"You are not the sole importing agent. There are
so many others.” The Chairman corrected Sinha,
"No, he is not an importing agent. He is an
exporting agent." Piloo Mody added, "I export
ideas on a barren market."
When Shyam Lal Yadav was elected as the Deputy
Chairman of Rajya Sabha, members of various
political parties in the House started extending
their congratulations to him. Piloo Mody
congratulated and warned the newly appointed
Deputy Chairman, "I beg to move a vote of
congratulations to my friend, Shri Shyam Lal Yadav.
I have no doubt in my mind that my good friend
will continue to be as partisan as he was in the
past. I want to assure my friend, neighbour, and
colleague that I wish him very happy times in the
Chair with the least amount of acrimony and warn
him that if he does not behave when he returns to
this Chair, I will sit on him." The Deputy Chairman,
when not presiding, sits next to the Leader of the
Opposition.
Piloo Mody's sense of humour was not only in his
speeches but in his writings too. He was known to
address Indira Gandhi as IG in his letters and sign
off as PM (Piloo Mody). He often told Indira
Gandhi, ”I am permanent PM; you are temporary."
Apart from being a humorous parliamentarian and
brilliant architect, Piloo Mody was a renowned
author, having two books to his credit. His first
book, “ZULFI, MY FRIEND” (1973), was penned on
the life and times of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, his close
friend and classmate, who became Prime Minister
of Pakistan in the 1970s. Mody's second book was,
“Democracy Means BREAD AND
FREEDOM” (1979), which he wrote during his 16
months in jail during the infamous Emergency
period in 1975. The book was an attempt to trace
the genesis of democracy and search for the
origins of the attitudes and institutions that sustain
it.
Piloo Mody also served as editor of an English
weekly, “March of the Nation,” published from
Bombay, and wrote numerous articles for the
national and international newspapers and
magazines. Mody’s legacy is commemorated by
the Piloo Mody College of Architecture in Cuttack,
Odisha, and FIDE’s Piloo Mody Memorial Open
Chess Tournament, named in his honour.
Long live the memories of Piloo Mody!
ZULFI MY FRIEND.
Democracy means BREAD AND FREEDOM.
Piloo Mody College of Architecture in Cuttack, Odisha.

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Piloo Mody in front of Parliament House, New Delhi.