Remembering Lady Aruna, Ambika and Angad Paul
Sunday 2nd July 2023
London Zoo
LORD SWRAJ PAUL PC
Thank you for joining me on this special day. It is with deep sadness that I welcome you to this event without Lady Aruna Paul for the first time. It is more than a year since she passed away and I know how much she looked forward to seeing so many friends and honoured guests at this event.
So much of the world has changed since our last gathering in 2020, with Covid-19 preventing us from meeting for several years but I am pleased to see old friends and new joining me to remember Aruna, Ambika and Angad. I am grateful that we can come together to share stories of their lives and celebrate everything that they are.
Aruna was a partner of great warmth strength and generosity of spirit, who passed away last year at the age of 86. She was everything one could wish for, wise and witty and a joy to have at my side wherever we went in the world. I often remarked that when I met her, she was the most beautiful girl in Calcutta, and that remained true throughout our years together from Calcutta (now Kolkata) to London to Boston, she sustained me in every possible way.
As part of the celebration of Aruna’s life and achievements, I am pleased to announce that the University of Wolverhampton will name their School of Architecture and Built Environment building the Lady Aruna Swraj Paul Building. Based at Springfield campus the university’s newest site in Wolverhampton, the Lady Aruna Swaraj Paul Building will be the home of hundreds of architectures and built environment professionals from around the world. I look forward to dedicating this building to Aruna’s memory before the end of the year.
We are at ZSL London Zoo because it holds treasured memories of our daughter Ambika, who died 55 years ago when she was just four years old Ambika was an exceptionally brave little girl who endured her illness with great fortitude. In her last days, she got much happiness from visiting this zoo and sharing in the joy that the many animals bring to so many people each day. No matter what is going on in your life, a visit to see these happy creatures can lift your spirits from any sadness or pain, and that is why a part of the zoo is named the Ambika Paul Children’s Zoo, and keeps a special place in our hearts.
Of course, ZSL London Zoo also bore Aruna’s name for a time in 2002. I named the pygmy hippopotamus enclosure for Aruna, although she told me with a mischievous smile that “most men would name a rose for their wife, while you have chosen hippos.” I informed her that pygmy hippos are rarer than any rose and I stand by this statement, although a person with Aruna’s joy is rare still.
Many of you here today knew our son Angad. In this relatively short time, Angad’s achievement were outstanding: helping me build Caparo around the world, developing the Caparo T1 sports car, and producing major motion pictures like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch and many others. The University of Wolverhampton continues to honour Angad through the Angad Paul building. Part of the Department of Engineering, it brings students together from around the world to help shape our future through technological revolutions on land on the roads and in the sky. Knowing Angad’s love of engineering, I know he would approve.
Losing Angad, in the prime of his life, was an unbearable sadness for his family and those close to him, but in a very real sense, it was a huge loss to all those who would have been enriched by what he could have achieved. Angad was our only child not born in India, but India was always close to his heart, and he was proud of his heritage. Weather in the United Kingdom, or in India, his enthusiasm for pushing the boundaries of knowledge or artistic endeavour knew no bounds.
