Lata, lovingly known as Lataben, has been pivotal behind the Jain Society of Toronto’s Cultural Centre in East Toronto. When she became the board of director of JSOT in 2013, it was an unfinished structure since long. She became the chair in 2016 and it still remained unfinished. In 2017, she took the matter in her hands – she used her real-estate renovation experience and committed a large sum of funds to see the completion of the Centre. As a celebration of her husband, Motilal’s 75th birth anniversary, the couple pledged a whopping amount to ensure its proper renovation.
Commit, only if you can honour it
There was a reason that people trusted her with responsibilities. Lata had earned herself a reputation of getting any job done in time. When her husband, the famous late Motilal Champsee, started Rainbow Realty in 1976, she joined him to help ease out his burden. From 1979 to 1997, she was the one-woman army – from janitor to the manager. Who knew the Champsees would soon make the best team in real-estate! While Motilal had expertise in converting clients, Lata, rather surprisingly, had a knack of pursuing people to finish their tasks under any circumstances, time- and cost-efficiently.
Success followed them. In 1972, they bought their own house, opened their office close to home.
Rainbow – of dreams!
What comes easy is not sweet.
While it was the 1962 coup and later nationalisation in 1964 in Burma (now Myanmar) that made Motilal’s family move to India and leave their home and business behind, it was the feeling of displacement and the trauma on his mind that he decided to settle in a country wherefrom he could better provide for his family. He chose Canada. He, with a partner, started selling handicraft and other items from the Indian subcontinent in the flea markets of Toronto. And he continued his CA studies.
When Moti was struggling to find himself a strong standing financially, Lata was growing up in Calcutta (now Kolkata) rather unaware of him. In the 1930s, her grandfather and later her father, Dahyalal Korani, had moved to Calcutta from Kutch, Gujarat. She remembers her father being responsible for his younger siblings and family and ethical in business. Once when they had some business payments coming from the railways contract, the bank staff wouldn’t release it as Dahyalal denied bribing them. It was three years later when the management of the bank changed that the amount was released. Her mother, Zaver Bai, was “an ideal lady” – kind-hearted, giving and strong. In the times of India’s freedom fight, she had contributed all her jewellery by the call from Mahatma Gandhi.
The eldest among four siblings, Lata was born in 1949, in Calcutta, West Bengal. Completing schooling from The Calcutta Anglo Gujarati School, she earned her Bachelor’s in Arts from Calcutta University in 1970. Although never a bright student, her professors asked her to join Political Science Honours’ programme, which would help her later when she would run an organisation. She loved to volunteer for social causes. One among such was organising a fundraiser to support the victims of the 1968 flood in River Tapi. It was here that she met Motilal for around 20min, oblivious of the fact that he had come as her prospective groom. Although her family was not keen for the match as he was living in Canada, she anyhow agreed to it.
Her reading habit had introduced her to Canada; she seemed rather prepared for the new lifestyle. Yet, once there in 1969, she was up for some shocks. Language, food, people, climate, nuclear families, everything was new. However, a far ruder shock awaited her. There were quite some loans and expenses on Motilal, although he was trying his best to fulfil all his obligations. After some miscues from his partner, he was finding it tough to make the ends meet. Lata started working within three weeks of arrival in Canada. She had no experience and couldn’t speak proper English yet she took two jobs—for a temp agency and Canada Life Insurance. Three weeks later, Canada Life hired her full time. Promotions awaited her: she was double as productive as her colleagues, to be credited are her Kutchi roots as she soon found a way to achieve higher targets.
In the meantime, Motilal completed his CA, though even before he could start, he realised it wasn’t his calling. Real-estate allured him and thus happened Rainbow Realty. It wasn’t until three years later that Lata joined him. Ever since there has been no looking back: hard work, perseverance, determination, teamwork were followed by success. As they trudged forward, they discovered new capabilities in her and soon she had started managing the office and staff.
By 1977, their children, Manish and Sonal, had started waiting to get time from their parents’ busy schedules. Lata hired a young lady, Joana, as her assistant, whom she had initially declined. Ultimately, knowing that she was struggling to nurture a kid, she couldn’t avoid hiring her. Several years later, Moti met Joana; by then, she had trained as a nurse and was all too thankful to Lata. Though Rainbow kept her busy, she couldn’t help keeping her mind from wondering how a small step could help someone transform the shape of their lives.
The 1990s’ recession in Canada came as a huge blow to Rainbow. Terrible losses were inflicted. Motilal’s health was affected.
Quoting from Bhagavad Geeta, “Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is”. The two never stopped working – ethically – and eventually they rose. After the 1990 recession, they changed their modus operandi. Moti started investing in multi-unit residential buildings. He would buy buildings that require renovations. Lata started helping him and acquired the skills of dealing and negotiating. Both of them had an eye for design which came handy as they beautified the buildings. She had the knack of breaking down jobs and hiring specialised workers. She was bringing her Gujarati and Bengali influences to a beautiful confluence. She would think through things emotionally and clarify them practically. A reputation was thus earned.
Practicing the art of generosity
Inheriting it from her parents, Lata has always actively helped the needy. To begin with, she counselled the wives of Indian immigrants as a part of Indian Immigrants Services. Her impressive work brought to the Association of Women of India in Canada (AWIC), where she served for many years, running programmes to assimilate Indian women in Canadian culture and society. Gradually becoming its vice president and president too, she brought recognition to Indian culture, winning support from three leading politicians of Toronto. She also helped found a seniors’ club in 1986, first of its kind, which has grown into a viable organisation for seniors to interact and learn to adapt to the Canadian way of living.
At JSOT, she played an important role in the 1997 Jain Convention. After the convention, upon persuasion, she became the editor-in-chief, a position that she held for 10 years, of Jain Digest, a quarterly magazine of JAINA. With her streak of innovating, she launched it as e-digest in 2010 and the organisation’s website during her reign as the president. She has also led JAINA to join hands with Veerayatan International to start a new school in Rajgir, Bihar, which will facilitate better development of students with the availability of science and computer labs. Manish and Sonal too have pledged to contribute to the development of the school through the Champsee Family Foundation.
She has often been awarded for her efforts for the society’s upliftment, the Canadian government’s Outstanding Achievement Award for Volunteerism in 1987 is the one that makes her the proudest.
He lives through us
Though Motilal breathed his last in 2019, he still lives through his family. Lata has pledged the Motilal Champsee Cultural Center with the JSOT. She still feels him in Manish and Sonal, both of whom are just as hardworking, persevering and calm as he was. Manish, a math genius since school, is a self-taught programmer. His interest in human rights made him fight for pedestrian rights and has now become the chair of Walk San Francisco, CA. He is well-settled with his wife, Jean. Sonal is a writer whose plays have been produced and now takes creative writing classes online. Married to Gordan Stuhne, a scientist in University of Toronto with Ph.D. in Math, she has two children, Dorian and Renata.